Moments Like These
by roseweasley394
Summary: A collection of one shots (in no particular order) covering the lives of Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy *I do not own any aspect of Harry Potter
1. Something Different

AN/ Here's some Hogwarts fluff ( if you could call it that) for you! I hope you enjoy!

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It was stupid, really. She'd seen him almost every day over the summer. They'd spent countless nights sneaking out to the orchard behind the burrow with Al, swam in the lake almost daily, ventured into the village near his house and so much more.

They'd been together all summer just like they had the four previous summers. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary, except that it most definitely was. It had started with small things.

She'd caught him staring at her in her swimsuit as she ran down the hill to the lake behind the burrow and he'd blushed when their eyes met. One hot July night they'd stayed up late with Al and Lily to watch a muggle mystery special on her mom's old television. She didn't remember falling asleep but when she woke up she was laying next to Scorpius and his arm was around her waist. He woke up too and they never mentioned it again. Sometimes his mum would ask him to run into the village near their house and somehow they'd end up holding hands walking down the quiet paved roads. They never mentioned that either.

But they were still just Rose and Scorpius. She still beat him at chess every time, they still argued about the pros and cons of muggle football and he still hid her wand just to get a rise out of her. Nothing had changed.

That's why when she ran up to meet him on the platform, just like she always did on the first day of any term, she didn't know why her heart was beating so insanely fast. He still looked the exact same. Like he hadn't quite noticed how much more attractive he'd gotten. Like he was still the boy she met on the train on their very first day now six years ago. And it wasn't until recently that she'd started to notice how brilliantly grey his eyes were. Or how his lips turned up just a little bit every time he saw her. Or how when he got frustrated he'd bite his lip and run both hands through his hair.

She nervously tucked a loose curl behind her ear as they walked towards the train pushing their trunks along. They'd already said goodbye to their parents and they'd agreed to save Al a seat in whatever compartment they decided to pick.

"Rose?"

She looked up just in time to avoid walking into the side of the train. He looked at her curiously and then helped her through the sliding door. Her stomach did a flip when their hands brushed. They settled into a compartment opposite of one another and she looked out the window gazing at the crowded platform.

He continued to chatter on but her mind was elsewhere. She couldn't get the image of him asking her to dance at Ted and Vic's wedding over the summer out of her head. She could still feel the weight of his hand on her waist, the only real thing keeping her from flying away.

"What do you think?" Scorpius asked.

"What?" She asked tearing her gaze away from the crowd of redheads, her cheeks flaming. "I was asking your opinion on whether or not I should take my dad up on his offer. You know, the one where he's arranging for me to shadow him at Mungos. Do you think it would be too weird?" He asked anxiously.

"Scorpius, everyone there knows that it's only a matter of time before you're running the place. You're going to be brilliant, it's in your blood," She said reassuringly.

"But that's the thing. I don't want the reason I succeed to be because of my father," he said as he picked at a piece of loose thread on the seat.

"Scorp, we're just barley entering our sixth year. You have some time before you have to worry about any of this," Rose said. Just another thing to admire about Scorpius. He already knew what he wanted and how he was going to get it. She on the other hand, did not.

"You're probably right," he said with a laugh. A comfortable silence fell as the train took off. Rose watched as her family slipped from her view.

"Are you alright?" Scorpius asked.

"What?" she said once again tearing her gaze from the window.

"I asked if you're alright. You've seemed a bit off this morning," he said giving her a small smile.

Her heart thudded and she was surprised he couldn't hear it too. She felt the tips of her ears burn but she smiled nonetheless.

"I'm fine, just thinking about going back," she said referring to Hogwarts.

He nodded solemnly. "Me too. But I've also been thinking about other things," he said and she was too busy rummaging through her bag to notice the hint of nervousness in his voice.

"Did something seem different to you? This summer, I mean," he blurted causing her head to snap up instantly. His cheeks were growing more red by the second and she could hardly think because her stupid heart was beating much too fast again.

Her eyes were wide and she was stumbling on her words. Right as she was about to answer the door to compartment burst open and Al walked in looking thoroughly frustrated. "I've been looking for you gits for hours," he said as he threw himself down next to Scorpius.

Scorpius and Rose remained silent both blazing red. "What, isn't this the part where you remind me that we've hardly been on the train for fifteen minutes?" Al asked not even not noticing how crooked his glasses had become.

"Sorry, mate. Just a bit distracted," Scorpius finally answered clapping him on the back.

And just like that the entire incident had been forgotten just like every other notable moment from the summer. Rose sighed in dejection and cursed herself for being such a bumbling idiot. If only she'd answered faster then maybe she could've found out where exactly he was trying to steer their conversation.

Hours later the train pulled into the station and Al practically shot from his seat. "I can't believe I forgot to go find Lily. I promised that I'd help her play a prank on James. You know, seeing as it's his last first ride of term. I need to find her before she hexes my bollocks off for forgetting," he said rushing from the compartment without so much as a 'goodbye'.

Scorpius had started to gather his things as well and was half way out of the door before Rose thought to fix her mistake. She grabbed his arm and he turned around looking down at her with his brow slightly furrowed.

"Yes, I was going to answer yes. Something did seem different this summer," she said in a rush. His eyes widened and her cheeks burned. "Okay," was all he said before he gathered the rest of things, shot her a smile ( a nervous one if she was reading him correctly),and left leaving her feeling strangely exhilarated but also like a fool. She had no idea what had just happened but at least they'd kind of discussed something.

"Here's to sixth year," she muttered to herself as she gathered her things as well and followed him out the door.


	2. Facade

AN/ Hi! I wrote this kind of quickly and I'm not sure if it's my best work but I sincerely hope that you enjoy it!

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She'd seen him cry before. Of course she had. They'd been together nearly 10 years. They were married for Merlin's sake. But when Rose unlocked the door to their flat, the last thing she'd expected was to walk into their bedroom to seem his head in his hands and his shoulders shaking.

He looked up slightly and once he saw that it was her he rubbed his face quickly and ran a hand through his disheveled hair in an attempt to act normal. "Hey," he said his voice cracking. Wordlessly she sat next to him on the bed and took his hand in hers.

"How was your day?" He said clearly faking a smile. His eyes were red-rimmed and puffy and he looked utterly defeated. "Scorpius, what happened?" She asked as she brought her free hand up to his cheek.

At her touch his eyes closed tightly and he took in a deep breath. "Nothing, I'm okay. Do you want to order something for dinner?" He asked after a moment.

"Scorpius," Rose said bracingly.

"No, really. I'm okay, I promise," he said as he smiled and leaned in to kiss her. She pulled back and frowned slightly.

"Scorpius, you can tell me anything, you know that. What happened?" She asked again. He couldn't stand to hold up his 'happy' demeanor any longer. He sighed deeply and rubbed his eyes.

"It's my dad," he said quietly. Rose did her best to hide her shocked expression and was relieved that he was looking straight ahead.

"Someone broke into the house. Mum found him when she got home from work," he said no longer trying to disguise the tears running down his cheeks.

"Is he-" Rose couldn't even finish her sentence. Dread filled her and she gripped Scorpius's hand harder. He shook his head and a sense of relief washed over her.

"Not yet at least. Mum dosen't know much," he said quietly.

"Well then we need to go to the hospital. She can't be there all by herself," Rose said standing up already mentally drafting the letter she would send her mum before they left. She turned around to see that Scorpius hadn't moved and a look of confusion. "Scorpius?" She asked cautiously.

"I can't go," he said finally removing his gaze from the wall. "Scorp, your mom needs us," Rose said kneeling down in front of him so that they were eye level.

"I can't go," he repeated this time much more firmly. Rose sighed. "Why? We both know that your mom is all alone probably mentally killing herself over something that she couldn't of stopped. We don't have a choice, Scorpius."

"I can't go because if I do then this becomes real. Someone broke into my childhood home. A place that I've always thought of as safe. A place where it could be just me, my mum and my dad. No talk of death eaters, no threats, nothing. Someone tried kill my father, Rose. They broke in with the intent of ending his life for revenge of what he did thirty years ago. If I go with you then all of that becomes a reality and I don't know how to deal with that," he said never looking away from her.

"Oh, Scorpius," Rose said softly bringing herself to sit by his side. The tears that were burning her eyes finally began to flow.

"I don't know how to do this," Scorpius said quietly looking at her with a gaze that reminded of her of a lost child.

"Your dad changed and that's what matters," she said gently.

"I know that. You know that. But that doesn't mean the entire wizarding world does. My dad killed people, Rose. He forced someone to take their last breath and now we don't know if he'll be taking his" He cried in anguish.

"He was a kid, Scorp. You accepted all of this a long time ago and you can't let something like this make you doubt that. It's not fair to your dad and it's not fair to you," she said firmly.

He had finally stopped crying and he closed his eyes tightly once again. Silence fell and she continued to stare at him intently.

"You're right," he said finally trusting himself to speak again. "Mum's probably a mess," he said thinking out loud. Rose nodded. He ran a hand through his hair and cursed himself. "I'm an awful son."

"You are n _ot_ an awful son," Rose said firmly.

"I am! She sent me the letter two hours ago and I've been sitting here crying like a giant prat," he said.

"Everyone copes differently. Everything you said was perfectly justified. Now if you get up we can floo to Mungo's. I'll write my parents and Uncle Harry to see if we can't get anymore information of what bastard did this and how exactly we can get him thrown into Azkaban," she said standing up.

She extended her hand to Scorpius with her best attempt at an assuring smile. He couldn't know that she was freaking out as well. He took her hand and pulled her close.

"Have I ever mentioned that I am so bloody in love with you," he murmured in her ear. A shiver ran down her spine and she grinned. Even though it had been years she'd never tire of hearing him say the words.

"Maybe a few times. Now let's go or you really will be acting like a giant prat," she said trying to pull away from him.

He rolled his eyes and kissed her briefly. They walked hand in hand to the fireplace. Scorpius didn't know what the next few hours or even days would look like. But he did know that he wouldn't be able to do it without her by his side.

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AN/ I have this 'awful' habit on ending chapters on a super cheesy note. I apologize. Except I don't because I think it's cute. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope that you enjoy! Let me know how you feel!


	3. Not Leaving

Hello! I apologize for not updating sooner. I've had this in my drafts for a while and just never got around to posting it. I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer- I do not own any aspect of Harry Potter

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Seeing as neither of them worked for the ministry, stuffy events and galas had never been something either of them were roped into. But when they were, if one of them had to go then they both did.

"Scorpius, could you come here for a moment?" Rose yelled from their bedroom. Checking himself for anything horribly wrong in the mirror one last time he hurried from the bathroom to help her with whatever she needed.

"Scorpius," she called again with her back facing the door.

"I'm here, love," he said walking up behind her. Even from behind he could tell that she looked incredible. Of course he always thought that she was the most beautiful witch he'd ever seen, but sometimes she really blew him away. She turned around just in time for him to snake an arm around her waist and pull her against him. Wordlessly he crashed their lips together and for a moment she was the only real thing in the world.

She pulled apart much to soon but not without grinning widely. "What was that for?" She asked.

"I didn't know that I needed a reason to kiss you," he said leaning in again. She pushed him away playfully and quirked a brow.

"I called you in here for a reason, you know," she said. She turned to pick something up off of the dresser. It was a simple silver necklace with a single emerald that he recalled giving to her years ago. "I can't seem to get the clasp," she said handing it to him.

He rolled his eyes but nonetheless stayed silent as she turned her back to him and waited. He pushed her fiery curls to the side and got the clasp in one try. He smiled slightly at their proximity. Her back was practically pressed flush against his front and he knew that it would be only a matter of moments before he lost all train of thought.

Dropping a lingering kiss behind her ear she sighed in content. He continued to kiss down her neck. Her back arched slightly and she made a noise that he knew had the potential to completely undo him.

"You look so beautiful," he whispered lowly. She shivered against him, his breath hot against her neck. In one fluid movement she had turned herself towards him and their lips connected almost instantly. Without breaking contact she pushed him backwards pressing his back against the wall.

One of his hands explored the expanse of her back while the other tangled itself in her mess of curls that she had tamed for the ministry party. She had just started to undo his shirt's buttons, her head thrown back as he trailed his tongue down his neck stopping to suck lightly right at her collarbone, when she pulled back slightly.

"We're going to be late," she said breathlessly.

He laughed shortly as he began to push her dress robes off of her shoulders. "Even if I wanted to, I don't think I can leave this house right now. Not with you looking like this," he said not stopping.

That was all it took for her pull his face to hers and to pick up right where they'd left off. He pushed himself off of the wall and walked them over to the bed where they came tumbling down, a mess of hot skin and tangled limbs, still not breaking away from one another. She had just managed to undo the last button of his dress robes when she realized that he was right. There was no way that they were leaving the house.

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I hope that you enjoyed! Leave a review and let me know what you think:)


	4. Exasperation

AN/ Hello again! I really enjoyed writing this chapter and I hope that you like it as well! It's kind of a sequel to chapter 3 (Something Different) in the way that it's around the same time but it doesn't pick up immediately where I had left off. I think I'm going to be doing more of that type of thing. Please give me prompts! I'm always so open to suggestions and I'd love some outside opinions. Thanks for reading!

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It was November of their sixth year and everything was fine. Not great, but fine. They were still just Rose and Scorpius. They'd hardly discussed their summer since that moment on the train but it wasn't exactly uncommon for them to be found asleep together in the common room after a long night of studying or for them to be seen holding hands during their prefect rounds. They were still just the same and that was absolutely infuriating to Rose. But not as infuriating as Scorpius was acting right then.

"You can't just leave!" Rose cried angrily from her spot on the common room floor.

"Rose, we're done talking about this," he said starting to gather his things from the transfiguration paper they'd been working on.

"No, we aren't. I just can't _believe_ how _thick_ you're being," she said taking his things from his hands and putting them back on the ground.

"And _I_ can't believe how insensitive _you're_ being!" He said as he stood up.

"Insensitive!" She cried from her place on the floor. "Since when is it insensitive to want what's best for you!" She said jumping to her feet her cheeks blazing after she realized what she'd said.

He sighed and rubbed his face wearily. "I appreciate you trying to help. You know that I do. But I'm leaving tomorrow and that's final," he said crossing his arms.

"We're talking about your grandfather, Scorpius," she said.

"Exactly. My grandfather who is now dead," he said wincing a bit when her nostrils flared and a look fury passed over her face.

"He was never anything but terrible to you or to anyone else for that matter. He talks to you like your dirt on the ground just because you have morals," she said remembering all of the times that she'd seen him physically deflate after hearing from his grandfather.

This was stupid and she knew it. She didn't have a right to tell him what to do but she couldn't help it. She just wanted him to be happy _so_ badly and she knew that going to the funeral of a man who'd verbally abused him his entire life wouldn't do anything good for him.

"I don't have a choice," he said bringing her mind back to the argument at hand.

"You absolutely do have a choice! You're of age and if you don't want to go to the damn funeral then no one can make you," she said realizing that they'd both started yelling and that they'd probably woken up the rest of the tower.

Scorpius sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "If this is about what happened to your mum-" his voice was cut off her strangled cry of frustration.

"How could you even say that! Merlin, Scorpius you just don't know when to stop, do you? " She cried cursing herself when she felt hot, angry tears welling up much to quickly for her liking.

A look of shame crossed over his face. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't of brought that up," he said looking at the ground.

"No, you shouldn't of. This has nothing to do with her. It was hard enough for me to tell you about what happened and I don't need you using it against me," she said folding her arms across her chest.

An uncomfortable silence fell over them and she tried to hide her tears as she hastily wiped them away.

"Rose," he said breaking the silence. "What is all of this about?" He said stepping towards her.

"It's about you, Scorpius. I don't know why you can't see that," she said squeezing her eyes shut tightly in attempt to keep her tears at bay. She wasn't going to cry over this anymore. It was stupid anyways, not to mention incredibly embarrassing.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

She sighed opening up her eyes figuring she'd already made a fool of herself. "You're just too good," she said immediately turning bright red. "I know that that doesn't really make sense to you but it does to me because you're one of the best people I know, not to mention my favorite, and your grandfather doesn't deserve any piece of you, not even when he's dead. It's just not fair," she said.

"Rose," he said reaching for her arm.

She yanked away from him and her face turned even more red. "I don't know how you can go to an event to honor his memory. Not after everything that's happened. He's been so awful to you and I can't stand that he has any power over you,"she knew she was rambling but she couldn't stop.

"Rose," he said again this time grabbing her by the wrists and this time she didn't pull away, just stared up at him through watery eyes.

"I'm not going to the funeral for my grandfather. I'm going for my grandmother and my father because even though my grandfather was a horrible person, they still loved him and they need me. I have to be there for them and I want you to understand that. I n _eed_ you to understand that," he said never looking away from her.

All she could focus on were his piercing grey eyes and the look of genuine care and concern that filled them. He had practically pressed their bodies against each other and it was the closest they'd ever been. She couldn't think straight and she was about to attempt to speak rationally but before she could he was pressing his lips to hers.

She stood paralyzed for all of two seconds before her body kicked into high drive. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back with a ferocity that she'd been holding in for months, really years if she was being honest with herself.

It didn't last long; neither of them were too experienced and weren't used to the lack of air. When they pulled apart both breathless and red in the face he didn't loosen his grip around her waist.

"You kissed me," she said dazed.

"I did," he nodded in confirmation.

She continued to stare at him with a mixture of confusion and awe.

"Was I not supposed to?" He asked letting go of her starting to look embarrassed.

She shook her head quickly. "No, I think that you defiantly were supposed to," she said grabbing his hand insticutally and blushing furiously.

"Okay, good," he said smiling as he squeezed her hand.

"I'm still mad at you though," she said looking at him challengingly.

He laughed loudly. "I think I'm okay with that," he said.

Silence fell and they were left both red in the face but feeling more elated than they ever had.

"Scorpius," Rose said suddenly.

"Yeah?" he asked tightening his grip on her hand.

"Do you think that you could kiss me again," she said looking up at him trying to ignore the smirk that took over his lips.

"I don't know, Weasley. Wouldn't you say that it's your turn to return the favor?" He asked.

Rose Weasley wasn't a girl that needed to be told anything twice. She launcher herself at him losing herself in his embrace. That night she didn't do much thinking but she could clearly recall one though crossing her mind. She didn't know how she could ever be mad at him again.


	5. Going, Going, Gone

AN/ Hello again! I'm giving you a warning this chapter is an emotional mess. This last week has been a hard one so in my angst and emotional instability I decided to write something to get it all out. I know that it's kind of long but it was so much fun to write an I really hope that you enjoy!

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It was never supposed to be like this. They'd made promises, told each other things that they knew they could never tell a single soul and were so mind numbing and blissfully in love.

Things had been great. They'd graduated, gotten a flat together and begun their lives. Him as an intern at Mungos, her as an intern at the Prophet. The hours were long and the work wasn't always fun but they were fulfilling their dreams and they were doing it together.

If she had to take a guess, Rose would say that things had started to fall apart around October. He was newly 23, her hot on his heels. Their careers were both starting to really take off which meant two things. They were both extremely stressed and they got to see each other much less.

Scorpius often worked 24 hour shifts with little to know sleep involved meaning that he wasn't home much and when he was he was asleep. Rose worked fairly normal hours and did her best to fill her empty time by going the extra mile and writing more than was assigned to her, which in the long run only gained her more respect with her co-workers.

They both savored each of the moments that they spent together which were becoming increasingly less and less. Neither of them were used to not sharing every aspect of their lives with one another and the less time they spent together the more Rose started to feel the gaping distance between them.

She tried to ignore it at first. They still had fun. Neither of them cared if they were at some fancy restaurant or curled up on the couch, as long as they were together. She wished she had realized sooner that at some point, that wasn't enough anymore.

His shifts became even longer and she began to be called away to write articles all over the continent. The distance between them grew and every moment they spent together became awkward and tension filled. They were virtually strangers. When they'd gotten together they hadn't thought about the hardships of a relationship. They were both barley 17, so filled with hope and desire. Rose tried to pinpoint when that had gone away.

Their conversations became less and less enthusiastic. She ached to talk to him constantly but the time just didn't seem to exist. But she never once doubted that he loved her. She knew that he did with everything in him. She just wondered when they had let their careers become more important than their relationship.

And that's when the arguing began.

It had started with silly things. Who had left the towel on the floor, why the dishes were still in the sink, that sort of thing. But then it became personal. Why were his shifts becoming increasingly longer? Why was it that every time he had off, she just happened to get called away?

Things hit their peak late one night when he returned much later than he'd promised. She couldn't sleep without his being there and so as usual she stayed up reading. But it was fine, or so she told herself. He'd come home, they'd go to sleep and they'd have the entire weekend to talk or fight or whatever else their lives now consisted of.

He walked in at almost three in the morning. She plastered on a smile as he put down his things and climbed into bed without changing out of his robes. He leaned over to kiss her and without even thinking about it her body tensed up. He pulled away with a look of confusion.

"Is everything alright?" He asked.

She nodded feverently. "Yes, I'm just tired," she lied. She didn't have the energy to fight.

He smiled knowingly and leaned in to kiss her once more and it happened again. She hadn't even thought about it. His proximity was something she wasn't used to anymore and she couldn't help it. This time when he pulled apart he looked more hurt than confused.

"Rose, what's going on," he said sitting up.

She put her head in her hands and before she knew it, she was crying, sobbing more like and she felt like an idiot. She didn't know what had come over her but it was as if the last few months had settled on her shoulders and attempted to crush her.

She could hear his intake of breath and he moved closer to her. She tensed again and he recoiled.

She took her head from her hands and looked at him through watery eyes. "How did this happen?" She asked.

She didn't need to elaborate. He knew exactly what she was talking about.

"I don't know." He said it so quietly, she almost missed it.

"Neither of us are here anymore. I don't know how I can fix this and I wish that I knew where to even start and I know that it's my fault and-" she was cut off by him grabbing onto her desperately.

To her consternation tears had started to flow down his cheeks as well. "You haven't done a thing. Please, love. Don't ever think that," he said.

It was the first time they'd _really_ addressed their issues and to see him torn up as well left her speechless. They'd danced around it of course, but neither of them had ever had the guts to face the truth. They were truly broken.

"How did I let this happen?" He asked with a look of anguish.

"It wasn't just you. It was both of us," she said feeling utterly defeated

His head had dropped into his hands and much to her horror his shoulders started to shake. She wanted to kiss him and tell them that they were okay. That they were just a little bit off and that it wasn't anything that they couldn't fix. But she couldn't.

She took a large shaky breath and prepared herself for what she was about to do. Her heart broke in two just thinking about it.

"I think that we need a break," she said.

His head shot up instantly and his eyes widened in shock but she continued.

"I can go stay at my parents. It won't take me long to get my things together," her voice broke horribly and an ugly, dry sob rippled through her.

She was going to try and continue but before she could Scorpius had taken her face in his hands with a look of alarm, and much to her dismay, fear.

"No. We can talk this out. It's my fault and I know that. I should've never put my job before you and I'm so sorry, but we can fix this. I lov-" she cut him off. She couldn't hear him say it because if she did then she knew that her whole facade would crumble even more than it already was.

"Scorpius," she said shakily.

" _No_ " he said with more force. He noticed her wince and let go of her completely practically sinking into himself.

"I don't know how I let this happen. I love you so much, you have to know that," he said. And there they were. The magic words. She couldn't help herself as a whole new wave of hysteria washed over her.

"I do," she managed to choke out.

"What?" he asked.

"I do know that you love me," she said trying desperately to get ahold of herself. But he wasn't trying at all. He was a complete mess which only hurt her more.

"I am so sorry and I love you so, so much. _Please_ don't leave me," by this point he was fighting for breath in between his words. It was the most broken she'd ever seen him.

"I'm not leaving you, we both just need some time apart," she said trying to hold herself together.

"We can fix this. We _have_ to fix this," he said desperately grabbing on to her hand.

"Scorpius," she said again.

"I'll quit my job. We can go anywhere you want. I'll do anything, Rose. Just please stay with me," he said now begging her.

She could hardly see straight. The tears pouring down her cheeks were hot and heavy and her head hurt and she was just so _so_ tired. But through it all she knew what needed to be done.

"Scorpius, we can't keep doing this. We both need time to work on ourselves before we can try again and I know that you know that," she said. She had no idea how he'd understand a word she was saying through her muffled sobs.

"I love you so much, Rose. _So much_ and I just can't do this, _any of this_ without you. _I need you_ , Rose, and I am so _so_ sorry if I ever I made you doubt that. Please stay. _I need you to stay,_ " he said now crying even harder than she was.

She felt as if she was going to tear in half. It took everything in her not to kiss him and tell him that they were okay. But she stayed silent. The only sounds that filled the room where those of their respective sniffles and occasional deep breaths.

Hours could of passed and she wouldn't of noticed. She was stuck thinking about how to navigate through their issues when he let go of her, wiped his face roughly and shakily got off of the bed. It was as if a switch had been flipped.

"This is my fault. It's not fair for you to have to leave," he said quietly.

"No. This isn't just your fault," she said moving towards him. He sighed but shook his head looking at the ground.

"You were right. We both need to clear our heads." He summoned a duffel bag from their closet and started throwing things inside.

She watched wordlessly for what could of been hours. After he'd taken what was his he stood in front of her. She longed for him to touch her but he didn't.

"I'm going to stay at Albus's. I'll be there when you're ready to talk. _If_ you want to talk," he said hoarsely. "I love you," she whispered the second he apparated away. And just like that she was gone.

It took a moment for his absence to really sink it but when it did a sob escaped from her and she collapsed against the pillows.

She didn't know how long she laid their crying. She stopped momentarily when someone apparated outside of her door. A flicker of hope spread through her. He'd come back.

But the door opened and it was just Lily. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that Albus had told her to come but she didn't have the emotional capacity to be embarrassed.

Her cousin wordlessly climbed in her bed and held her for the rest of the night until her body was incapable of producing anymore tears. She felt hollow and regretted everything.

But somewhere deep within her she knew that she had done the right thing. And if her and Scorpius really loved each other as much as they said that they did, maybe, just maybe things would be alright. She highly doubted it, but she could hope.

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AN/ I hope that you enjoyed! I'll probably write a sequel for this soon so I don't keep you all hanging. _Please_ leave a review and tell me what you think!


	6. Freckles

AN/ Hi! This one's pretty short but it's a lot happier than the last couple. Enjoy!

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"Scorpius," she said between giggles. "This is never going to work!" she said looking up at him. He was hovering over her with one hand propping him up and the other slowly poking around her face.

He didn't answer but the look of determination on his face said it all. The way that his eyes zeroed in on her face and the way he bit his lip in concentration made her shiver slightly but it didn't seem to phase him.

"Scorpius," she said again still not attempting to wriggle from his grasp.

"I'm going to finish this time, I swear," he said his fingers now resting on her nose.

"You've said that everyday for a week," she said. The way he looked down at her helped stifle her laughter.

After several moments more he sighed in defeat, rolled over and collapsed on the grass next to her. "I don't understand how one person can have so many damn freckles," he said frustrated.

"Well, I _am_ a ginger," she said rolling over to face him.

"There has to be at least a thousand," he said seriously.

She rolled her eyes but laughed. "There's most definitely _not_ a thousand," she said pausing momentarily. "Besides," she said speaking again. " I don't even know why it's so important for you to know an exact number."

He flushed slightly but didn't answer. "Oh come on, you know that you can tell me," she said while prodding him in the side.

"I just figured that since we're together now I should try to learn as much about you as possible," he said never looking her in the eye. When she didn't respond his cheeks practically flamed. "It's stupid, I know," he said embarrassed.

She thought that she could actually feel her heart melting. "I don't think that it's stupid at all. I think that it's sweet," she said her using her finger to move his head to face hers.

"Yeah?" He said the color fading from his face. She nodded and he smiled.

"You know, I don't just have freckles on my face," she said before she could stop herself. It wasn't meant to be a suggestive comment but the way he looked back at her made her cheeks turn the color of her hair.

"Trust me, I know. I never intended to just count the freckles on the one part of you" he said without skipping a beat.

It was the most straight forward they'd ever been with each other and their faces both turned even more red, which didn't seem possible. They'd only been together for a little over a month but the comment didn't do anything but put butterflies in her stomach. Wordlessly she reenacted the position he'd had over her earlier and brought her lips to his.

After she couldn't breathe anymore she pulled away grinning slightly. Her hair hung down as a curtain around them and the rest of the world simply ceased to exist. In that moment they both knew one thing to be true. There was no way that things could get better than this.


	7. Cinnamon

AN/ Hello! I apologize for not updating, it's been a crazy couple of weeks. I hope you enjoy some young, awkward and not to mention in love Scorpius!

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Scorpius couldn't help watching Rose as she scribbled furiously onto a her piece of parchment. Her movements were truly the only thing keeping him awake as Professor Binns droned on. It was utterly endearing to him how she could stay so interested in such a dull subject.

He sighed and mentally slapped himself as her scribbling continued. There was no way that she would ever notice him. Not that he really knew how to make her, he was only 14 for Merlin's sake. But that didn't stop him from thinking of her as the best thing since Krum came out of retirement to play in the 2014 World Cup. The way the light shone off of her red curls drove him mad. Everything about her did, for that matter.

It was strange. He'd never seen her as anything more then a best friend until this year. He was his other best friend's cousin, which ultimately created a bit of an issue. He knew that the Weasleys were not a force to be reckoned with. But he couldn't help but watch her every movement. She was incredible and he only wished that she could think about him in the same way.

Class had ended and everyone around him was gathering there things. He didn't snap out of his trance until she came up next to him. He didn't even have to look to see that it was her, he could feel her presence.

"Alright there, Scorp?" She asked shoving him lightly.

He felt his neck heat up at her touch but smiled nonetheless. "Yeah, just a bit out of it," he said as he too started to gather his things. Wordlessly they walked out of the room and headed to the Great Hall.

He didn't even realize that she'd started to talk to him until she said spoke his name louder. "What?" he asked wildy looking down to his side where she was looking at him curiously.

"I asked you what was going on. You're acting odd," she said.

"Oh," he said reddening. "I think I might be a little under the weather," he said rubbing his neck in an attempt to hide what was no doubt flaming.

She was speaking again but all he could focus on was the movement of her lips and the cinnamon scent of her hair.

"You smell nice," he said before he could stop himself.

Her mouth opened but then she closed it as if she didn't know how to quite respond. What he had just said hit him like a slap in the face and he faltered.

"I'm sorry, that was weird, I-" his rambling was cut off by her grabbing his arm playfully.

"Honestly, Scorpius, I appreciate the sentiment. But you're acting as if someone slipped a ton-tongue toffee in your pumpkin juice. Are you alright?" She asked.

"Fine, I'm fine," he said much too quickly. "I guess my allergies have heightened my sense of smell," he said with a laugh doing his best to move along from the entire situation.

She shot him a funny look but giggled nonetheless. "Whatever you say, just as long as you're okay," she said shooting him a smile. They arrived at the Great Hall and she rushed over to the table to tell Albus something or other, most likely related to their previous class.

Scorpius hung back a bit to mentally beat himself up. Was there a bigger idiot on the planet than him? He didn't think so. How obvious could he be? He told her she smelled nice. Only a freak noticed a thing like someone's would probably hate him now.

"Scorpius, are you coming?" Albus called patting the seat beside him that he'd saved. Scorpius nodded and hurried over. He sat down and much to his relief they went about everything as normal. The entire ordeal was forgotten and Scorpius pushed it to the back of his mind.

While eating his corned beef sandwich a dull thought crossed Scorpius's mind. He knew that if he'd kept his feelings at bay for this long, he could easily do it for the rest of his life. He'd just have to accept the fact that Rose Weasley would never like him back, and that the smell of cinnamon would always make his stomach turn in a way that only came with being in love.


	8. Running, Running, Home

AN/ Hello! So this is the promised (and procrastinated) sequel to Chapter 7: Going, Going, Gone. I really enjoyed writing it and I hope you like it! Leave a review and let me know what you think! I update pretty regularly so follow the story for more!

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Rose Weasley was not an unintelligent woman. Over the expanse of her (almost) 23 years she'd dealt with pain, love, confusion, grief, happiness, the works. She'd been tested mentally many times and was proud of the fact that in hard situations she most always held her head on straight and came out on top. That was until now.

It had almost been a week since Scorpius had apparated from his and Rose's flat and she was an absolute wreck. For the first few days Lily stayed with Rose while she pieced herself back together. She stayed in Rose's spare room, made sure that her cousin ate, showered and generally took care of herself. Monday morning she went back to her own flat but still checked on Rose several times a day.

As pathetic as it was, Rose had only made it through two and a half days of her five day work week. Embarrassingly enough, she hadn't been able to get out of bed Saturday through Tuesday. Wednesday morning she dragged herself out of bed and prepared herself to face the world.

She got to work, only left her cubicle to cry in the bathroom twice, and made it home with little to no error. The same thing happened Thursday and half of Friday before her boss pulled her into her office. She told Rose that she looked sick and sent her home telling her to take the weekend to get over whatever was infecting her. Up until that moment, Rose didn't know that heart break could be considered an illness.

She spent Friday night, just like every other night that week, curled up in her bed and pathetically enough, crying herself to sleep. It was at night that Rose really allowed herself to think about Scorpius. She knew that they had made the right decision. They had both prioritized less important things than their relationship and had hurt each other in the process. They both needed time to heal. She knew that. She never once doubted that he loved her, which was comforting. But that didn't mean that she liked it.

It wasn't until they decided to take a break that she realized how dependent she was on Scorpius. Falling apart because of the loss of a boyfriend went against everything Rose believed in. But Scorpius wasn't only her boyfriend, he was her best friend and she felt like she was living without a part of herself. It was a fact that no one else on the universe knew her as well as he did. Lily tried to fill the void, but they both knew she couldn't.

Lily didn't know how much Rose enjoyed waking up next to the love of her life every morning. She didn't know that after a grueling day, all Rose needed was a foot massage and enough takeout to feed a small army. She didn't know how much Rose hated the man in the cubicle next to hers because of how he smacked fish and chips _every single day_ and all of his documents were covered in his greasy fingerprints.

Rose Weasley knew how to navigate many bad situations, but this was not one of them. Was she supposed to write him? Wait for him to come to her? How much time was enough to heal? Two weeks? Three? A month?

She didn't know what to do for the first time in her life and it was killing her. She thought endlessly about going to her mum and dad for help. If anyone could help her, it would be them. But that would mean admitting that there was a problem and so far she'd only openly said the words to Scorpius.

Friday night passed, and so did Saturday, then Sunday and so on. Before she knew it, one week had turned into two and she was slowly working her way to three. Every moment dragged by. She constantly missed his presence but slowly things began to fade back to normal, if you could call it that. She made it through an entire work week, learned to wake herself up in the mornings, fed herself more than just fast food, and learned how to live life on her own.

She hated it. Every small task felt like a marathon and to distract herself she threw herself into her work. She worked more hours in one week than she ever had and successfully diverted her attention from constant thoughts of Scorpius.

It was Wednesday of the third week and Rose got home near 2:00 am. The rain around her came down in heavy sheets as she unlocked her front door and hurried inside dripping water all over her carpet.

She toed off her shoes and pinched the bridge of her nose in attempt to alleviate the stress she was feeling. She had taken on six more assignments than she usually did in a week and it was killing her. She fixed herself dinner, changed into one of Scorpius's old jumpers and only cried for a record breaking three minutes as she inhaled the barley lingering scent of him.

Right as she settled on the couch with a pile of chocolate frogs and switched on the muggle tv her parents had given her for her twentieth birthday, something banged against her front door. She couldn't help it as her body shot up from the couch and for a moment, as she caught her breath, she thought it was only the rain pounding from above.

But the banging continued. She grabbed her wand from the couch and slowly made her way to the door. Taking a deep breath she twisted the door's handle and gasped once she saw who it was.

Standing in front of her was an soaked to the bone, obviously upset and very tired looking Scorpius Malfoy. Her first instinct was to wrap her arms around his neck and never let go. But that could wait.

She stared at him for a long moment before she wordlessly ushered him inside, sat him on the couch and summoned a blanket to wrap around his shoulders. It took him a moment to stop shivering but when he did the only sound in the room was that of their collective breathing.

"So," prompted Rose what could of been hours later.

"I'm sorry," was the first thing he said.

"Scorpius, don't-" she was stopped by him turning to face her and grabbing her hand desperately.

"No. I've been standing in the pouring rain for an hour trying to decide what I was going to say to you. I need to get all of it out now before the shock wears off," he said.

"Shock?" She asked knowing already what he meant.

"Yes. The shock of you being here next to me and not telling me to leave," he said quietly.

"Why would I ask you to leave?" she asked. "If anyone here should be angry it should be you. You told me to come see you when I was ready and I didn't. I wanted to but I didn't know what to say or how to talk to you and I," she paused to gasp for air not even realizing that she'd started crying.

"Rose," he said softly all the while wrapping his arm around her and pulling her to his chest. This only made her cry harder but she didn't know why. The reason that she'd been such a wreck for weeks was the absence of his presence and now that he was finally here she was still crying.

"I've missed you. I've missed you so much," he whispered into her hair.

When she finally stopped crying she pulled away slightly so she could actually take in his precense.

"I'm not mad at you for not coming to see me," he said as he wiped her few remaining tears away for his thumb.

"You're not?" she asked weakly.

"Of course not," he said with a barley there smile. "I could've easily come to see you too, but I didn't. I didn't know what to say either," he said.

She nodded realizing that she hadn't even thought of it that way. "So you know what to say now?" she asked.

He laughed and the sound made her stomach flip the way it had when she was 16. "No, I don't know what to say. But I do know that these past few weeks have been absolutely awful without you. I've been a wreck, Rose. It's kind pathetic," he said.

"I'm not doing to well either, am I?" She said gesturing to her tear streaked face and the fact that she was wearing his shirt. He smirked and rolled his eyes.

"I don't regret it though," he said.

"Regret what?" she asked while brushing a lock of hair from his eyes. She couldn't ignore the fact that he shivered slightly at her small gesture.

"I don't regret taking a break. I hated every single moment of it, but I know now that it's what we needed," he said pulling her close to him.

"That's a very adult thing for you to say," she said, a true smile lighting up her features for the first time in what felt like months.

"Well, it was a very adult thing for you to suggest. I don't think that I could have," he said bringing a palm to cup her cheek.

She blushed slightly and closed her eyes at his touch. "Things aren't going to be easy, Scorp. We've both taken the time to think about what we need to work on and this is ultimately both of our faults," she said threading her fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck.

"I know. That's why I've requested a leave of absence from Mungo's," he said casually. At his words she jolted backwards.

"You did what?" she practically shrieked.

"I'm taking some time off. You're more important to me," he said simply, pulling her back to him.

"Scorpius, this is crazy. You can't just quit your job for me," she said wildly.

"I'm not quitting my job for you. I would in a heartbeat, but I'm not. I'm simply taking some time off. I can't go through this again, Rose. You say that this is both of our faults, and maybe to some extent it is. But it started with me. I put my job before us and I'm more sorry than you could ever begin to fathom," he said calmly.

She didn't understand how he could be so okay with all of this. He was putting his successful life, which he had worked so hard to achieve, on pause because of her. She mentally kicked herself as she felt the tears burning her eyes.

"You don't need to be sorry and you don't have to take a break from work," she said in a small, wobbly voice. He pushed her hair from her face and took her face in his hands.

"Yes, I do. Rose, I am so painstakingly, hopelessly and slightly pathetically in love with you and if I've learned anything lateley it's that life without you isn't worth living. I can't go another 19 days without telling you every single little thing," he said kissing her on the forehead. "Without waking up next to you," he said kissing her jaw. "Without cleaning up your pants from the bathroom floor," he said kissing her nose. "Without listening to you rant about how the man next to you smacks his lunch _every single day_ ," he kissed her cheek which was now covered in her tears. "Without being married to you," he said not giving her a chance to think before capturing her lips with his.

She kissed him back fiercely before his words finally hit her. She pulled apart quickly and stared at him. "Say that again," she said in a voice so quiet he could hardly hear.

"Say what?" he asked.

"This isn't the time to be smart with me, Scorpius. Say it again," she said grabbing onto the collar of his shirt.

"Merlin, Rose. I'm hurt! I ask you to marry me and this is how I'm treated" he said looking down at his shirt clenched in her fists doing his best to to grin

He didn't have a chance to speak again because she had tackled him down on the couch, pulled his face roughly into her hands and finally, _really_ kissed him. They were like magnets. He moved, she moved. Every single lost moment in the past 19 was made up for as he splayed his hands across the expanse of her back and pulled her even closer to her. It was a mind numbing and blissful oblivion that she never wanted to end. She could taste the tears sliding down her face, but she didn't care. She kissed him and kissed him and kissed him until they were both left gasping for air.

"We have to promise to never leave each other again," she said still red in the face.

"Forever. I'll stay with you forever. I promise," he said smiling.

Rose can't remember saying any other words that night. She can't even remember if she ever properly said _yes._ But it didn't matter because they both already knew what her answer was and hey were much too busy getting 'reacquainted' with one another to care. As the sun rose the next morning, when they had stopped long enough for him to slide the stunning emerald ring onto her finger and her head lay on his bare chest listening to the steady beat of his heart, Rose Weasley knew that never again would anything else in the world be as important as him.


	9. Commemoration

AN/ Hello! This one's pretty short and sweet but I hope you enjoy it!

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Gryffindor had just won the house cup, _again,_ which was really very exciting. It would be even more exciting if it wasn't the fourth consecutive time this had happened in Rose Weasley's Hogwarts career. She obviously loved quidditch. Her family ate, slept and breathed it, but it wasn't necessarily a shock to see Gryffindor win once again.

Everyone screamed, hugged, slapped the players on the back in congratulations, and made their way back up the the tower for a party that would no doubt be killer seeing as it was James Potter's last year as captain. Having finally found Scorpius again in the mess of fellow classmates around them, they walked hand and hand through the hallways lagging slightly behind the maroon and golden clad crowd.

Rose rolled her eyes as she heard her brother's loud and enthusiastic voice from somewhere in the middle of the clump of people in front of her. He was no doubt retelling every moment of the match from his perspective as beater.

"You know, I'd think you'd be happier," Scorpius said as they continued to walk along the portrait covered hallway.

"Yeah? And why is that?" She replied.

"I mean, our sixth year is coming to a close and I think that another house cup win is a perfect way to commemorate things," he said looking down at her.

"And what exactly do we have to commemorate, ," she said stopping to turn towards him, crossing her arms and looking at him defiantly.

"Well, , I'd say it's been a pretty successful year, wouldn't you?" he said stopping too.

"How so?" she asked smirking ever so slightly.

"Well, we're almost done with our end of term exams," he said.

"Yes, I'd say that that's pretty important. What else do you have in mind?" Rose asked.

"It's your horrid cousin's last year with us," he said smiling widely.

Rose rolled her eyes knowing how much Scorpius adored James. "Is that all?" She asked.

"I'd say so. Sixth year has really been quite a bore, don't you think?" He asked reaching out and entwining his hands with hers.

"You're telling me that nothing else worth any thought has happened this year?" Rose asked all the while snaking one arm around his neck.

He looked at the ceiling thoughtfully. "No, not that I know of. Things have been pretty dull, _especially_ the last 8 months," he said pulling her closer to him.

Rose sighed and let go of him. "Well, if you really can't think of anything," she trailed off moving away to follow the now small crowd ahead of them.

Before she had the chance to walk any further Scorpius had spun her around and pressed his lips to hers in a searing kiss that both physically and mentally swept her off of her feet. When she finally willed herself to pull apart she smiled.

"Still forgetting a certain _good thing_ that came out of sixth year?" She asked.

"I think I just remembered," he said taking her hand in his.

"I'm glad. Now come on, we have a party to get to," she said pulling him along with her.

 _hphphphphphphphphphphphp_

It wasn't until later that night when most everyone was asleep that they really had time to be alone. Neither of them usually got too wild at events such as these, but after everyone except for most of Rose's family had made their way upstairs to sleep, neither of them could say no when James brought out the firewhisky.

Scorpius was worse off then Rose, and as they laid slumped on the comfiest couch giggly over the smallest things, Rose couldn't help but feel a warmth in her chest that was totally non-alcohol related.

"Rose," Scorpius asked looking up at her, his head on her lap. She hummed in response and groaned as he attempted to get up to look at her.

"Rose, I have to tell you a secret," he said.

"Well then get on with it. I'm tired," she said as her eyes slid close.

"I really like you," he said reaching up to whisper in her ear. She shivered slightly at his proximity.

"I didn't think that was a secret," she opening her eyes. His face was directly in front of hers and she gazed into his cloudy grey eyes.

"That's not the secret," he said. She giggled slightly as their noses touched.

"Then what is it?" she asked biting her lip in an attempt to stifle her laughter at the way he childishly blinked at her.

"I really love you," he said after he yawned.

Now it was Rose's turn to blink stupidly. She suddenly felt stone cold sober. She stayed frozen as he sloppily pressed his lips to hers and fell back to his position on her lap.

Neither of them had ever directly told each other that they loved one another. She just figured that it was obvious. The warmth in her chest grew as she looked down at his head on her lap only to see that he was already asleep. She guessed that she'd just have to wait for the morning to tell him that she loved him too.


	10. A Complete Blubbering Mess

AN/ I know that this chapter is pretty cheesy but I still think that you'll enjoy it. Please, please, please leave a review! Thanks for reading!

"You know," said Scorpius as he pushed the pillow under Rose's swollen feet. "I don't think I ever fully appreciated hugging you until right now," he said.

"Out of all the things you could be missing at this very moment, you miss hugging me?" Rose laughed as she licked the salt off of her greasy fingers.

"I mean, of course I miss 'other things'. I _definitely_ miss 'other things'. But I didn't participate in those very things every single day. I did on the other hand hug you daily," he said picking up the trash from the fish and chips they'd just finished.

"You can still hug me," she scoffed as she watched him bustle around their living room. She'd originally felt bad seeing him tend to her every need. But these last few weeks, she had decided not to care. She was just too damn tired.

"It's kind of hard with that thing in the way," he said gesturing to her swollen belly.

"That _'thing'_ is our child. And I hardly think that he or she would appreciate its father talking to it as such," she said resting a hand on her beach ball of a stomach.

Scorpius laughed and finally stopped cleaning and sunk down onto the cushions next to her. "Of course I'm not going to refer to our child as a thing. I will love him or her every bit as much as I love you," he said.

He leaned over and kiss her forehead but Rose had other ideas. She pulled his face to hers and heatedly kissed him until they were both left gasping for air.

"Okay," he said a bit breathlessly. "I'm sorry, but I take back what I said. I don't think it's possible to love this baby as much as I love you," he said sneaking a kiss behind her ear.

"Merlin Scorpius, you're so cheesy," she said closing her eyes briefly as he kissed his way down her neck.

"What can I say," he said between kisses. "You bring out the worst in me,"

With that he pulled her closer to him and continued to make up for all the things that they couldn't do.

 ** _hphphphphphphphphphphphph_**

Hours later, when he had very unromantically helped her hobble from the couch and into their bed, they lay almost asleep.

"Scorpius," Rose spoke into the darkness.

"Yes, love," he replied just having been on the brink of dozing off.

"I'm sorry that you can't hug me," she said.

"Rose, I'm pretty sure that me not being able to hug you is the least of our worries right now. I was only kidding earlier," he said smiling slightly. It wasn't until he heard her sniffling that he realized that she was upset.

"Come on, love. Give it a couple of more weeks and I'll be able to hug you all I want," he said reaching for her hand and squeezing it reassuringly.

"It's not even about not getting to hug you. It's about everything. I'm tired and fat and hormonal and I hate it," she cried.

"Rose, you're pregnant. All of that is normal, isn't it?" he asked rubbing her arm.

"I know, it's stupid," she hiccupped.

"It's not stupid," Scorpius said propping himself up on his elbow so he could see her properly. This was about the fifth time that they'd had a variation of this conversation in the last week so he knew exactly what was coming next.

"I just hate looking like this. It's horrible," she said and right on cue a sob escaped her.

"Hey, it's okay," Scorpius said pulling her to his chest. It was hard with her bloated stomach but he managed.

"If it's any consolation, I don't think that you're horrible at all," he said using his thumb to wipe away the tears that slid down her cheeks.

"Yeah?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah." he said smiling. The mood shifted immediately though as she pulled away from him and looked up at him through still watery eyes.

"Are you scared?" she asked.

It was the first time she'd ever asked him. They'd both been ecstatic since finding out the news of her pregnancy, but he couldn't ignore the constant ball of anxiety in his chest any longer.

"I'm terrified," he said without skipping a beat.

"Me too," she said quietly.

They sat in silence before she spoke again. "But we'll be okay, right?" she said obviously trying to convince herself.

"Yeah, we'll be alright," he said pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"Do you promise?" she asked. She sounded so childlike, but he couldn't blame her. Everything was happening so quickly. Sure, they had plenty of nieces and nephews, Rose's family was gigantic. But in all reality they really had no idea what they were doing.

"Yes. I promise," he said as convincingly as possible. It seemed as if Rose was consoled because she draped an arm across the both of them, pressed a kiss to his shoulder, and promptly fell asleep.

It took Scorpius a bit longer. He was going to be a father. An actual father. The thought both haunted and exhilarated him. But when he looked down at the fiery mess of curls sprayed across his chest he couldn't help feeling as if things were going to be okay.


	11. Resentment

AN/ Hello! So this chapter is defiantly super different. It's told from a new POV. I didn't really know where I was going with this and I'm still not sure of what I just spent the last 30 minutes typing but I wanted to show Rose and Scorpius's relationship in a new light. Again, I don't know what feedback for this will look like but if it's positive I'm thinking of doing a sequel somewhere down the road. Anyways, long story short, this is something different than normal and it's pretty weird but I kind of like it and I hope you do too!

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Albus Potter had officially decided that he was thoroughly confused by Rose and Scorpius. The night wasn't abnormal. They were sitting in their apartment with Lily, Hugo, and James watching some movie on Rose's TV. They did this at least once a month and so it was very frustrating to him that he suddenly found his two best friends so alluring.

The three of them had been attached at the hip since they were 11. They were 24 now making that a solid 13 years of friendship, 8 of which Rose and Scorpius had been together. It was odd to think of a time that they hadn't been dating and Albus often found himself thinking of them as one instead of two very different people.

But now, as he watched them sitting together, Rose practically sitting on Scorpius's lap, their heads bent together in a way that looked so natural, Albus found himself baffled. When they had first gotten together so many years ago, Albus hardly batted an eyelash. It was a long time coming and if anything it was a relief to know that he would no longer have to watch either of them deny their obvious affection.

But here, watching Scorpius not so discreetly throw popcorn at Rose's face everytime she looked away from him, he just didn't understand. How was it that two people, two people who were practically opposites, fit together so well?

Rose was truly a Weasley. Loud, always hungry, almost frighteningly red headed, short tempered and also insanley pure at heart. Scorpius, on the other hand, was more reserved at first glance. Albus assumed that it had something to do with his family's past. But aside from his general shyness, Scorpius was insanely smart, _very_ blonde, fairly level-headed and genuinely a fantastic person.

He just didn't understand. Of course, he'd seen this kind of love through his parents, and grandparents and of course with all of his aunts and uncles. But for some reason, this sat differently with him. Perhaps it was because the people in question happened to be his age. Or maybe it was because he spent so much time with them and he had simply failed to notice how in love they truly are. You know what they say about to Potter men. Completely oblivious they are.

The fact of the matter was the Albus Potter could not for the life of him figure out why something ruptured in his chest as he watched his best friend, brother more like, mindlessly rub circles on his cousin's back.

He wasn't snapped out of his 'trance' until a piece of popcorn hit him square between the eyes and lodged itself behind his face and his glasses. He looked up to see Scorpius smirking at him and Rose eyeing him curiously.

"Nice shot," Albus scowled taking the piece of popcorn and flicking it into his mouth.

"I'd like to think so. Are you alright, mate? You seem a bit spaced out," Scorpius said shoveling popcorn into his mouth as he spoke.

"Scorpius, don't speak with your mouth open. It's gross," Rose said elbowing him.

Scorpius rolled his eyes but looked at Albus expectantly. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired I guess," he said shrugging.

Scorpius didn't look too convinced but smiled reassuringly nonetheless. "Whatever you say, mate," he said pulling Rose a little closer to him which caused another weird pang in Al's chest.

"Could you two gits stop talking so I can enjoy the movie? We're almost at the end and I'm trying to concentrate," James snapped from his place at the foot of the couch.

Both Albus and Scorpius rolled their eyes. "Didn't know you were such a conseir of the cinema, Jamie," Hugo said laughing.

"I'm not, and don't call me that. I just want to know if Charlie wins!" he exclaimed. This only made Hugo laugh harder.

"I didn't realize that _Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory_ was so physiologically demanding," Lily mused from her spot next to Hugo. James chunked a handful of popcorn at them that scattered all over the carpet.

"I'm not cleaning that up," Rose said glaring at her cackling family members.

"I'll do it, love," Scorpius said pressing a kiss to her forehead and stood to go get the vacuum, which Rose's mum had given her two Christmases ago and was totally her favorite thing she owned.

Albus watched as Scorpius cleaned the mess up, slid back down to the couch and immediately wrapped his arms back around Rose. The entire action was so effortless and watching it was what made things finally clicked.

He was jealous. He was completely and totally jealous of what his two friends had and it had only taken him 8 years to figure it out. He felt like an idiot. But what could he do? Nothing. The answer was nothing. He would sit by and stay lonely for the rest of his continued to sulk for the remainder of the movie and right as the final credits rolled, a thought struck him.

Rose and Scorpius were getting married in only a matter of months. He was going to be a great best man, and he was going to bring a date. Because if he really wanted what his friends had then he was going to have to put himself out there. Which was terrifying, really. But he was going to do it.

And if it didn't work, then he'd try again. Because he realized that love; real, raw, unadulterated love, like what Rose and Scorpius had, wasn't something you just found easily. You had to work for it. And he, Albus Severus Potter, was going to do it.

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AN/ I know that this was weird and everything but please, please, please let me know what you think! Thanks for reading!


	12. Wedding Bells

AN/ Hello! I know that this is super short but I really wanted to update. I hope you enjoy!

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"I feel weird about this," Rose spoke while adjusting her necklace.

"How could you possibly feel weird right now? You look beautiful," Scorpius said as he wrapped his arms around her from behind.

She ignored the blush that rose in her cheeks at his comment and leaned into his embrace. "Thank you, but this isn't about how I look. I'm going to be meeting half of you family today," she whined doing her best to ignore shock that made its way down her spine as he kissed the place behind her neck that _he knew_ made her toes curl.

"It's about time, wouldn't you say? We've only been together for two years," he said pausing only to turn her towards him.

"What if they don't like me," she said quietly not meeting his eyes. He laughed and tucked a stray curl behind her ear.

"Rose, I can guarantee you that there's not a person on this earth who doesn't like you. Besides, what's not to like?" he said leaning down to brush his lips against hers.

"Let's see, I'm loud, obnoxious, ridiculously red headed, a Weasley, the list goes on," she said pulling away from him.

He sighed . "You're certainly not obnoxious. Loud, yes. But not obnoxious, much less ridiculous. And your last name has nothing to do with this. How do you think I felt the first time I met your family?" He asked while wordlessly coaxing her to unfold her stubbornly crossed arms.

"That's different," she said refusing to meet his eye.

"No, it wasn't. If anything it was much, much worse and we both know that. Should I even mention how much your Aunt Muriel hates me," he said.

"That's nothing against you, she hates everyone. I swear to you that the old hag is never going to die," she said with a small laugh.

"See," he said gently prodding her in the side. "If I could meet your crazy brood of a family then you can certainly meet mine, which I should add is much less crazy and desperately lacks any sort of fun. And besides, this is my mum's side we're talking about. She loves you more than she loves me," he said pulling her against him.

"That's not true," she said into his chest, but he could feel her smirking against him.

"It most definitely is. Now come on, she might love you but she wouldn't hesitate to kill the both of us if we're late," he said pressing a kiss into her hair. She rolled her eyes but nonetheless picked up her bag and grabbed his hand. They stepped outside and apparated away hand in hand to Rose's first Greengrass family wedding.


	13. Irresistible

AN/ Hello! I apologize for not updating, things have been pretty hectic. I'm actually so proud of this chapter and I really, really hope you enjoy it.

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It was all a complete accident and now, as he sits in the Hospital Wing waiting for Madam Pomfrey to come and give him an update on who he is pretty sure is the love of his life, Scorpius Malfoy wants to throw up.

It had started off simply. Of course they'd learned during their first year. But there was a difference in learning how to hover three feet off of the ground and learning how to fly. Both he and Rose were shite when it came to flying. But per usual, Rose hated being bad at anything. So, just so he could see her smile, he made it his sole purpose to teach the both of them.

"Scorpius," she whined as he pulled her along the corridor. "It's cold out there. Can't we just wait for the spring?" She asked trying to ignore the butterflies that erupted in her stomach as she realized that at some point he had grabbed ahold of her hand.

"No, we can't. No good quidditch player ever succeeded by staying inside throughout the entirety of winter," he said ignoring the blush that covered his cheeks as she leaned against him dramatically.

"But I don't want to be a good quidditch player. I just want to learn how to stay on a broom longer than 15 seconds," she said.

"Which is exactly what we're going to do. Are you trying to say that you're afraid of the cold?" he asked stopping to look at her challenging.

She narrowed her eyes angrily. "No, I'm not saying that all. I'm saying that it's bloody freezing and I value my health enough to want to stay inside."

"Okay," he said shrugging. "I guess you can join me once it warms up. But by then I'll be _much_ better than you," he said letting go of her hand and continuing to the quidditch pitch.

She groaned loudly and made it a point to childishly stomp the entire way out to the pitch. She might be miserable, but she wasn't going to let him beat her. And that was the start. Through the entirety of the winter of their fifth year they taught themselves how to adequately fly.

Spring rolled around and with studying for their OWLs, their goals were put on hold. They practiced a bit over the summer but in all honestly they were too busy trying to deny their feelings for each other to really care. They finally got together towards the beginning of their sixth year and were much too busy being much too in love to even remember what they had started. Winter came, an entire year later, and they were holed up in the library agonizing over their latest essay in Potions when Rose remembered.

"Scorpius," she said breaking the comfortable silence that they'd fallen into.

"Yes, love," he said not looking up from the stack of parchment in front of him.

"We never learned how to fly," she said looking at him eagerly.

"Of course we did. We only spent an entire winter practicing," he said finally looking up to smile at her tiredly.

"All I'm saying is that yes, we did teach ourselves how to ride a broomstick. But there's a difference between that and really flying." When Scorpius stared at her dumbly she continued. "My entire family talks about it. The wind in your hair, the jittery feeling in your stomach, t _he rush_ ," she said excitedly.

"Why are you bringing this up now?" he asked yawning.

"I was just thinking about it. Don't you think it might feel nice?" she asked.

"Of course it would feel nice. But I hate to be the one to remind you that neither of us are too athletically inclined. And I would love to help you fulfill this dream of yours, but not after midnight on a Tuesday," he said reaching across the table to tuck a stray curl behind her ear.

"I'm not saying that I want to do it now. I'm just saying that at some point, we should try again," she said.

"Okay," he said grinning and shaking his head. "If you want to _really_ fly, then we can try," he said squeezing her hand.

After that night, Rose talked constantly of learning to fly. Scorpius found it strange. It was so unlike her to want to do something so reckless. But the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. Ever since Christmas, Rose had been different. She knew that her grandpa was getting sick. They all knew. But something about celebrating the holidays with him for what could've very well been the last time had both of the Granger-Weasleys in a rut. And if doing something completely crazy was what was going to make her feel even a little bit better, than Scorpius was going to do it.

That is why when he was awoken from his glorious slumber by a suddenly reckless redhead, he couldn't even try to force himself to be angry. Not when her eyes were shimmering with tears and her bottom lip just wouldn't stop quivering. Not even really questioning how she'd gotten into his dormitory, he pulled on a jumper that he'd discarded and thrown to the foot of his bed and wrapped an arm around her as she cried against him while they walked down the stairs.

"Hugo and I are leaving in the moring for the funeral," she said in between sniffles.

"I'm so sorry, Rose," he asked leading them towards the biggest couch in the Common Room. She collapsed against him once they sat down and told him that she'd just recived a tear stained piece of parchment from her mum explaining that he had passed peacefully surrounded by loved ones, all except her and Hugo which she quickly reminded him between sobs.

Scorpius said nothing, just held her against him as she cried. They stayed like that for a long, long time. When her sniffling had decreased significantly, he decided that he was probably supposed to say something. "Do you want to go to the kitchens? We can get anything you want," he said toying with the ends of her curls; something he'd always dreamed of doing and now, seeing as they were dating, could do as he pleased

She shook her head and he frowned. "Do you want to go to McGonagall? I'm sure she'd let you leave now if you asked," he said hopefully. She shook her head again and he sighed.

"What do you need, Rose. Seriously, I'll do anything," he said pulling her from his chest so he look look into her red rimmed, sparkling blue eyes.

"Anything?" she asked. He nodded fervently already regretting his words. "Let's fly," she said giving him what appeared to be her best attempt at a smile. Scorpius sighed. He knew that there was simply no way to get out of this. So, he smiled back, nodded, and told her to go upstairs and put on her cloak. They met at the base of the staircase and walked silently to the quidditch pitch. He summoned two brooms and closed his eyes tightly. For some reason, he didn't think that flying in the middle of the night was a good idea. But how could he resist her, especially now?

He was torn from his thoughts as she shot off of the ground and blasted past him. She continued to circle around his head until he too took off, but with much less intensty. They whirled around the pitch for a while before she started to increase her speed. It was faster than she'd ever flown and she soared past him. His heart fluttered as he heard her laugh echo across the empty field.

She continued to go faster, now weaving up and around the poles and his stomach twisted as he saw her just barley miss the announcers box.

"Rose, maybe you should slow down," he called out. No sooner had the words left his mouth before she suddenly stopped and started falling, falling, falling. He didn't remember much after that. He knew that he'd screamed endlessly as she collided with the dewy earth. Somebody must have heard him because he found himself being escorted to the hospital wing.

He remembered Professor McGonagall asking him why they had been out in the first place except she didn't look angry, just sad. He only could remember the part of his answer in which he told her, between tears that he would later be embarrassed that she saw him shed, that he didn't know how to tell Rose no. Not then. Not now. Not ever.

So, there he sat. Slumped against the wall watching the sun rise through a high window when Madam Pomfrey scurried over from across the hall. She told him that Rose was okay, she'd landed on her arm strangely in the fall and it was still mending. But she was okay. He breathed out deeply and tears of relief stung his eyes. He was now aloud to sit with her where she laid on a cot sound asleep. He held her hand and even though she couldn't hear, told her that he had been so, so scared. More so than he ever had been. He cried a little bit more, remembering what it had been like to see her shockingly red hair rip through the blackness and collide with the earth.

She eventually woke up and she kissed him hard, not that he deserved it. He had let her grief turn into recklessness and she should hate him. But she didn't because she could never.

"Your parents are going to see you today and know that this was because of me. I don't want them to hate me," he said grasping her uninjured hand tightly.

"They aren't going to hate you," she said losening herself from his grip and stroking his face lightly. He closed his eyes tightly.

"I was just so scared, Rose. You were going so fast and I don't know what happened. I mean one second you were fine and then the next," he trailed off and she sighed.

"Scorpius, I was being stupid. None of this is your fault," she said. He squeezed his eyes tighter not wanting her to see him cry because he didn't deserve her sympathy. She was the one with a broken arm, not him.

"I want you to come with me to the funeral today," she said softly.

His eyes popped open and a few tears slipped out, but he didn't mind. "You don't mean that," he said bracingly.

"I do. I can't do it without you," she said using her thumb to wipe away a stray tear and then pulled him to her to kiss him.

So he said yes. Of course he did. Because how could he resist her?

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AN/ Ahhhhh, I hope you enjoyed! Please, please, please leave a review and/or follow and fav! XOXO


	14. Come back to bed

AN/ Hello! I apologize for going so long without an update. I was working on a different chapter that just wasn't panning out, so I wrote this instead! I hope you enjoy:)

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As a healer, it was not uncommon for Scorpius Malfoy to see things that not only made his blood run cold but things that haunted him in ways he couldn't explain. He quickly learned as a healer in training that there were two kinds of injuries that he would have to deal with. Stupid ones, and horrendous ones.

Some of the more amusing ones were done by dim-witted witches and wizards and those were generally easy fixes that he could laugh about with his wife at the end of the day. But as stated, there were also cases that physically made him sick.

Voldemort had been dead for over 35 years, but dark magic was far from gone. It was true that the wizarding world was no longer in the middle of a deadly war, but the threat of dark wizards, though nowhere as terrible as Voldemort, would always linger.

Though his most gruesome cases were far and few between, the ones that did come in truly rattled Scorpius. He had seen is fair share of blood and gore, but somethings hit him harder than others.

One case in particular concerning a lunatic wizard and multiple young victims chased it's way from its place in the file cabinet in Scorpius's office into his dreams. For weeks the lives that he hadn't been able to save haunted him and the shining faces of children who had been gruesomely murdered stayed painted on the insides of his eyelids.

Having been working for so many years, he had gotten used to the occasional nightmare. But tonight was different. He dreamt of something far worse than a list of those he hadn't been quick enough to save. He dreamt of his own daughter, only a matter of months old, finding the same fate as those that hadn't survived.

He woke up abruptly and sat up covered in a cold sweat. He ran a hand over his face and pushed himself out of bed careful not to wake his sleeping wife. Quietly he padded down the hallway and noiselessly pushed the door to his daughter's room open. He made his way to the side of her crib and let out a breath of relief.

Of course she was okay. He watched her chest rise and fall and his heart beat leveled out. It had only been a dream. He knew that. But that didn't make it any less real. He didn't know how long he watched her, the most wonderful thing that had ever happened to him (aside from meeting Rose), before something lightly touched his shoulder causing him to jump.

"It's just me," whispered Rose sliding a hand from his arm to the base of his neck where she threaded her fingers through his hair. He stayed still but relished the feeling of her presence.

"Come to bed," she whispered, her breath tickling his ear. He sighed and she threaded her fingers through his and lightly dragged him away from their sleeping daughter. Once they were out of the room she quietly closed the door and then looper her arms around his neck where he stood looking down at her.

"Alright, Malfoy?" she asked as he brought a hand up to brush a stray curl from her cheek.

"I will be," he said pressing a kiss to her forehead.

Rose knew not to press him. He would talk to her soon enough. The pair said no more as they made their way back to their room where they now lay beneath the duvet atop of their bed. Scorpius wrapped arn arm around her and tugged her against him.

"Love you," he muttered into her hair.

"Love you too," she said pressing a kiss to his shoulder.

They both fell asleep within a matter moments, but not before a feeling of contentment settled in Scorpius's chest. He was going to keep saving lives. It was what he was made to do. And it was true that it wouldn't always be the best job, but at least he had something worth while to come home to.

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AN/ Yay for cheesy endings! If you enjoyed please, please, please fav/follow or leave a review! XOXO


	15. Chess and Distractions

AN/ Wow, it's defiantly been a hot minute since I've updated and for that, I apologize. It's been an incredibly crazy couple of weeks and in all honesty, writing has been the last thing on my mind. But, I'm back and better than ever. This was a super quick write and I really hope that you enjoy!

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The first time that Scorpius beat Rose in chess, despite being devastated, she fell in love a little bit. Rose, obviously, was the daughter of Ron Weasley. _The king_ of all things chess related. So saying that she grew up learning to destroy anyone that came near her in the game would be the understatement of the century.

It was sixth year, weeks before the two would admit their feelings to one another, and tension (mostly sexual) between the pair was at an all time high. Classes had been kicking both of their arses and as usual, Rose suggested to anyone that would listen that a game of chess, wizarding version or muggle, would be a great stress reliever. Over the years, the rest of Gryffindor has learned to stay away when Rose asked for a chess opponent because she would win, no questions asked. But as of late, Scorpius had began to take Rose up on her offers, mostly as an excuse to spend more time staring at her infatuating red curls.

He never failed to lose against her. And it wasn't just because he was distracted by how beautiful she was. She was _really_ that good. But one night after a particularly grueling day of double potions and an agonizing lecture from Professor Binns, when Rose asked Scorpius to play her, he wanted to win. His sudden need for victory might of been the result of an awful day, but it was probably because he wanted to see what Rose would do. As far as he knew, she had never lost. And as much as he liked (loved) her, he _did_ enjoy winding her up.

So, as they sat across from each other studying the board as thoroughly as possible, Scorpius stopped himself from looking at the crease between Rose's eyebrows that only formed when she was thinking really, really hard. He didn't look at her curls or her shockingly blue eyes. He stared strictly at the board and thought through every possible move before he made it. He slowly, much to both his and her surprise, he started to win. His steady advance flustered Rose and she became so unhinged that she caught herself staring at the muscle jumping in Scorpius's jaw every time he decided on a new move. She couldn't help but look at his arms which she knew to be the most real things in the world or at his hair, which was a little longer than usual, that curled just the slightest bit around his ear.

He was frustratingly distracting and for the first time in her life, Rose Weasley found herself unable to focus on a game of chess. She was so hopelessly enthralled with the way his lips turned up the slightest bit when he commanded any of his pieces to move that when he finally won, she was hardly even paying attention. In fact, Rose didn't snap out of her trance until she heard Scorpius's cry of victory as he ran laps around the perimeter of the common room yelling that he, Scorpius Malfoy, had beat Rose Weasley in chess.

"Oh stop gloating," she said crossing her arms as she watched him end his fifth lap and stop directly in front of her.

"I beat you in chess, Rosie. I think that a little gloating is acceptable," he said grinning down at her.

"Don't call me that," she said rolling her eyes at the nickname and trying desperately to act upset. She wasn't mad, not really. She had brought the loss upon herself. If she hadn't gotten so lost in his stormy eyes than she would of won. She knew that. Scorpius, on the other hand, wasn't buying it. "I expected you to be a little bit more upset at such a slaughtering defeat," he said sitting down next to her, his hand brushing against hers as it had been doing a lot lately.

"It was hardly slaughtering, and I'm just a little bit off of my game. Don't expect it to happen again though," she said glaring at him while beginning to gather her things. It was getting late and they were alone with the exception of a few bleary eyed third years playing a tired game of Gobstones.

"I don't know, Rosie. I'd say you were pretty distracted, wouldn't you say?" he asked reaching over to tuck a stray curl behind her ear, yet another thing he'd gotten into the habit of doing. Her ears had to of been flaming, not just because of his use of her nickname but because of the way his fingers lingered just a few second longer than needed on the underside of her jaw.

"I wasn't distracted, I'm just tired," she huffed refusing to meet his eye.

"It's alright, Rose. Truly. I too know a thing or two about being distracted by an incredible opponent," he said and she could feel his gaze on her.

"Oh you do, do you?" she asked rolling her eyes but replaying his words over and over again in her head. As much as he liked to pretend that he was some suave man who knew exactly how and when to flirt, Rose knew that Scorpius wasn't. He was just as nervous as she was, which was comforting. But the thing was, neither of them had ever been in a relationship so when it came to tension and flirting and making the first move, they both happened to be severely inexperienced. So, instead of either of them grabbing the other and snogging the daylights out of each other like they both desperately wanted, they just stared at each other both blazing bright red.

"Well then," Rose said suddenly clearing her throat and continuing to gather her things and tearing her gaze away from his. "Maybe I won't be so distracted tomorrow," she said slinging her bag over her shoulder.

"Whatever you say, Weasley. But I make no promises on my part. You hair can be rather enticing," he said with a smirk, a wave of red covering his cheeks.

With a roll of her eyes and a deep breath, Rose reached up on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Now that I know your weakness, I don't see anymore slaughtering defeats in the foreseeable future. Good night, Scorpius," she said. As soon as her lips had brushed against his cheek and had froze. He hardly even noticed that she'd began to head to her dormitory.

"Good night, Rose! Sleep well," He called out whipping around to watch her go.

She turned around and smiled. "Same to you, Scorp."

They both undoubtedly slept better than they had in their entire lives and neither of their dreams had anything to do with chess.

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AN/ Aghh, so much fluff. I hope you enjoyed, and if you did make sure to review and/or follow and fav! XOXO


	16. Okay

AN/ Hello! This is the sequel to Chapter 4: Facade. I kind of didn't know where I wanted to go with this but I like how it turned out. I hope you enjoy!

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Rose Weasley was no stranger to death. Though only a few of her loved ones had died in her lifetime, she had heard countless stories of the people who had left the world far too soon. Her parents had grown up and fallen in love watching the people that they cared about the most dying. Hell, most of her cousins were named after the dead. Her uncle, Teddy's parents, Uncle Harry's parents, Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape, to name a few.

So, when Rose found out that her father in law was in bad shape, she didn't really know what to do. Her own grandfather, her mum's dad, had passed away in her sixth year and it had been terrible. She felt as if she had been punched in the gut repeatedly and was left gasping for air for weeks. But that was her grandpa. She saw him when she could and of course looked up to him for raising her mother so brilliantly, but losing him didn't kill her. She kept going because she needed to. But the potential death of Draco Malfoy would kill her husband, she knew that it would.

Scorpius relied heavily on his father. For the first decade of his life, Astoria and Draco had served as some of Scorpius's only friends. Being a Malfoy didn't often provide much popularity, even as a child. Despite the horrible reputation of his father, Scorpius adored him, but he wasn't stupid. His father had once been a terrible person. Even at 16, you're responsible for the actions you make and Scorpius wouldn't dream of making up excuses for what his father had been apart of.

Draco had given Scorpius an in depth telling of the war from his perspective at a young age. He didn't want his only son to grow up under the impression that what the Malfoy family had been apart of was okay because it wasn't and following the war, it didn't take Draco long to accept that.

Scorpius admired his father for the choices he made after the war. The total reconstruction of himself was something Scorpius respected immensely. He commended his father for rebranding the Malfoy name all by himself. He loved the way his father loved his mother, and the way he openly accepted Rose. He knew that his father had not always been a saint, but he firmly believed in change and thought Draco to be the clear definition of it.

Rose, knowing Scorpius better than anyone, had heard all of these thoughts before and agreed with them wholeheartedly. She believed Draco Malfoy to be a great man who truly deserved that best because your past mistakes should not be the things that define you.

As she held Scorpius's hand in the waiting room of the intensive care unit of St. Mungo's, Rose thought of these things. She thought of the past conversations that she and Scorpius had held concerning his father and she thought immediately of her own father who was sitting with her mum. She thought of how even he now respected Draco and could hold long and genuine conversations with him.

She knew without a doubt that the loss of his father would break Scorpius. She eyed her mother across the room holding Astoria's hand tightly whispering to her that it would be okay. She couldn't actually hear her, but Rose knew her mum and she knew that she would be trying her absolute hardest to console the one person who stuck by Draco when everyone in the entire world wouldn't.

Rose's hand was numb. She looked to Scorpius, the cause of her lack of feeling in her hand, who was pale, even more so than usual, and was staring straight ahead. There was no telling what was going on in his head but Rose wished desperately that she could help him. Instead, she rubbed her thumb across the top of his hand and squeezed it tightly. She didn't know how long they sat like that but what could of been hours later when a healer who funnily enough served under Scorpius, a truly frightening thought, approached the group.

"Mrs. Malfoy, if I may, a moment alone," he asked refusing to meet the stare of Scorpius.

"Whatever you have to say to my mum, you can say to all of us," he said standing up, pulling a terrified Rose with him. He was shaking and Rose's didn't know how the rest of the waiting room couldn't hear her frantic heartbeat.

The young healer took a deep breath. "Mr. Malfoy is going to recover," the rest of his sentence was drowned out by the collective breath of relief. "It's going to be a lengthy recovery and you won't be able to see him for a little while longer, but he's going to be okay," said the healer. Scorpius pulled Rose against him in a crushingly tight hug and she wrapped around him feeling him practically explode with relief against her. Draco Malfoy wasn't going to die

Once the excitement of the healers words had died down Rose smiled as she squeezed Scorpius's hand. He had fallen asleep with his head resting on her shoulder and his eyelids fluttered lightly. He was going to be okay. They all were for that matter. Astoria sat across from Rose looking much more like herself than she previously had. Rose's parents sat with her, all three of them talking quietly and occasionally shooting glances towards Rose herself. Not long after, she woke Scorpius to tell him that it was time to see his father.

"I'll wait out here," she said kissing him briefly and pushing him towards his father's room.

"You're mad if you think I'm going in there by myself," he said grabbing her hand and pulling her lalong with him.

"You're mum will be there too. Your family needs you, Scorpius," she said in an attempt to break away.

"Rose," he said stopping and taking both of her hands. " _You_ are my family. Now let's go talk to my dad about how uncool it is to almost die," he said with a smile. She rolled her eyes and ignored the stinging in her eyes while taking his hand and following him into the room. They were going to be okay.

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AN/ If you enjoyed, review and follow/fav! Thanks for reading! XOXO


	17. Enough

AN/ Hello! I apologize for not updating recently, I've been traveling a lot and haven't been home. And unfortunately, I'm about to be gone for almost a month with little to no time to write. I apologize for what will be a long break but I'm going to try to update once more before I leave (no promises thought lol). I enjoyed writing this chapter and the recent love I've gotten on my past chapters has been very uplifting and appreciated. Enjoy!

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Three hours. He had said that he would be home three hours ago, and yet there Rose found herself sitting on their couch feeling, as she had been feeling a lot of lately, very much alone. Of course her daughter was in the next room fast asleep, but spending an entire day with a four month old didn't really provide much conversation. Entertainment, sure. Listening to her daughter fill the room with her giggles left Rose with a feeling that she couldn't quite describe, but at the end of a long day like today had been, she still felt alone. And it didn't help that her husband was late. Rose couldn't find herself with enough energy to worry too much, he was probably in the middle of a procedure undoubtedly saving someone's life. It's what she expected.

Her Scorpius. Intelligent, talented and loyal to a fault. Everything she had ever dreamed of for herself, and she had it. Their relationship was by no means perfect. But they were doing good. They were both thriving in their personal careers, their marriage was more amazing than Rose could have imagined, and now they had their daughter. Their beautiful, blue eyed daughter who had both of her parents wrapped around her little finger.

Sipping her wine and flipping through a file that she had more than enough time to go through, Rose heard the front door knob jiggle in a way that meant it was being unlocked. She hardly even gave the sound a second thought because she knew it was Scorpius and she knew that in mere moments his arms would wrap around her and her exhausting day would be worth it.

But she was wrong. What she didn't expect was for her husband, her _truly_ wonderful husband, to stumble through the front hallway giggling about something or other and reeking of firewhisky. Rose immediately set down her papers and faced her husband taking a deep, deep breath. This was not going to go over well.

"Rose!" He all but shouted, lunging forward clumsily to try and wrap around her. She moved swiftly around him and crossed her arms.

"You're late," she said trying to keep her voice even as he smiled at her stupidly.

"I'm sorry, Rosie," he said moving towards her again, only to miss her completely and trip over the otomen falling awkwardly onto the couch.

"You might as well stay there because you're not coming to bed like this," said Rose going to the side closet and grabbing a pillow and blanket. "Here," she said thrusting them at him.

"Ow," he said as the objects hit him. He then took to rubbing his eyes with the heels of his palms, a gesture that made him look like a small child.

"You're drunk, Scorpius. I'll see you in the morning," she said turning to leave.

"Rrrooossseee," he said dragging her name out, letter by letter, in a tone that was much too loud for her liking. They had a baby sleeping for Merlin's sake.

"I can't do this right now, Scorpius. I just can't," she snapped loudly. she listened to make sure that she hadn't woken up their daughter and she mentally kicked herself for doing the same thing Scorpius had just done.

"Don't leave me, 'm sorry Rosie." He said it quietly and immediately Rose knew what was going felt herself soften and she ran a tired hand over her face.

"What happened," she said turning around to face him.

"Eh, 's not important," he said shrugging.

"Obviously it's important enough for you to go to a bar instead of talking things out with your _wife_ ," Rose snapped.

"Said I was sorry, Rosie," he said while rubbing his eyes with the heels of his palms, a gesture that made him look like a small child.

"You don't get to do this anymore!" Rose yelled in exasperation. "You can't come home drunk and stumbling because you had a hard day at work. I get it Scorpius, sometimes things happen and people die and I can't even imagine how hard that must be. But we have a child. A child who thinks the world of you. You can't do this to her!" she cried. Something must have clicked for Scorpius because he suddenly seemed a bit more clear headed than before.

"It was a little girl. She was so small," he said softly, his voice breaking on the last word. Rose sighed deeply and slowly sat down on the couch next to her husband.

"It wasn't your fault," she said fitting her small hand into his large one. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly and took a shuddering breath.

"I'm sorry," he said, stumbling over his words a bit. He leaned his full weight against Rose and again, she sighed deeply and wrapped an arm around him pulling him to lay his head in her lap. Slowly, his body began to shake with sobs that were all too familiar to her, but they would never get easier to hear.

This had only happened twice before, the coming home drunk situation. Both times had led to an all out screaming match because Rose couldn't wrap her head around why he would result to a couple of drinks rather than talking things out with her. But then they had the baby and she suddenly understood. Sometimes she would get scared, scared that she couldn't be the mother that her daughter deserved. And she didn't want to talk about it, not even with Scorpius because if she did then she'd be admitting things out loud that she hadn't even fully admitted to herself. So now understood why after losing a patient, especially now that they had a child of their own, Scorpius didn't want to talk with her right away. He would when he was ready, but in the moment, he couldn't.

Of course she was still mad at him for coming home like this. They had a family now. There was another person to consider. But she understood and that meant that forgiving him would be a hell of a lot easier. Once he stopped shaking and his breath had evened out, he sat up blinking slowly. They stared at each other for a moment before without any warning, Scorpius pulled Rose roughly to his chest. They stayed like that for a couple of minutes before he spoke.

"If you don't love me anymore 's okay," he mumbled into her hair. This made Rose laugh harder than she had in awhile and Merlin did that feel good.

"Scorpius love," she said pulling herself from his now loosened grip and bringing her hand to his cheek. "There's not a thing that you could do to make me love you any less, okay?" she said trying to suppress a grin. He nodded and once again gave himself the appearance of someone much younger than himself.

He clumsily leaned into to kiss her but she pushed him away lightly. "You're not coming anywhere near me smelling like that," she said with a grin.

"I love you, Rose," he said grasping her hand.

"I love you too, but you're still taking the couch tonight," she said before pressing a quick kiss to his cheek and getting up to leave.

"Won't happen again, Rose." he called out to her while pulling the too short blanket over his too long legs.

"It sure as hell won't," she said with a smile before leaving him to sleep and wake up with what she hoped was a terrible hangover. In the morning they'd talk and she had no doubt that he'd tell her everything. But for now, they would sleep. And that would be enough.

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AN/ Hi! I hope you enjoyed! If so, please leave a review and/or favorite and follow! XOXO


	18. Astonishment

AN/ Hi everyone! I'm going to be honest, I think that this is the hardest I've ever worked on any piece of writing. It's been in my drafts for months because I really wanted to get it right because this chapter is really special to me. I hope you enjoy!

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"Staring at your tea is not going to magically make this any better," Scorpius said reaching over to take Rose's hand in his. She didn't say anything but he could see her biting her lip and he knew that she was trying not to cry.

"Rose," he said, but she didn't look at him.

"Rose," he repeated. "You know that this wasn't my choice," he said wincing slightly at his own words knowing that they weren't completely true. He could have turned down the case if he had wanted to but people were dying and it was his job to save them. She was supposed to understand that.

"Of course you had a choice, Scorpius. You always have a choice," she said freeing her hand from his now loosened grip and standing up to dump out her now cold tea. He stood up and moved to her side while helping tidy up the kitchen. He tried to pull her against his chest but she shrugged him off.

"Merlin Scorpius, I don't know how much more obvious I need to be. Leave me the hell alone," she said slamming her mug on the counter just a little bit too hard causing both of them to jump. Scorpius sighed in dejection and ran a tired hand over his face. It was no secret that Rose had a temper. She was a Weasley, of course she did. But he couldn't remember a time in which she had ever been so short with him and after two days of no sleep he really did not have the energy to argue with her.

"I'm sorry, okay? I don't know what more you want from me," he said trying to remain level headed.

"What I want is for you to realize how much you've screwed up. You don't just leave for days at a time without so much as a word. That's just not what one _does_ , Scorpius," she yelled

"It's not like this hasn't happened before. I was gone for _six days_ , Rose and I let you know where I was going before I left. I'm sorry that I chose to save lives instead of sitting on the couch with you," He said matching her volume.

"Sitting on the couch?" She scoffed. "You think that that's all I did while you were gone?"

"No, that's not what I meant. I just don't understand why you're so upset." He said wincing at her sharp tone.

"I'm upset because it was a little bit of a disappointment to find out that I'm pregnant without out being able to tell my husband," she said looking up and crossing her arms.

A look of utter confusion crossed over his features and he could feel his rapidly beating heart screech to a halt. "What?" he whispered. Rose said nothing but he could see her bottom lip begin to quiver.

"You're pregnant?" he asked her breathlessly.

She nodded while biting her lip, her eyes filling with tears that definitely didn't seem as if they stemmed from happiness. Before she knew it Scorpius had picked her up and spun her around, pulling her to his chest. All of her bitterness towards him made sense.

He couldn't believe it. He was going to be a father. _A father._ The thought alone made his eyes burn with unshed tears. In a matter of months Rose would have his baby, their _baby,_ and it would be their responsibility to raise him or her. He voiced his thoughts, mumbling them against Rose's skin as he pressed kisses to every inch of her. To his surprise she began to cry in earnest. He felt her knees begin to weaken as she settled her weight against him and he gently helped her lower herself to the ground where she continued to cry against his chest.

"Hey," he whispered softly, tipping up her chin with his finger. "Talk to me," he urged her. She took a shuddering breath and used her hands to wipe her tear streaked face.

"I've been so terrible to you ever since you walked in the door all because of this baby which I'm sure I'm not fit to take care of and I've wanted to tell you so badly but you weren't here and so I started thinking about all of the ways I'm going to screw this up," she tried to go on but her voice cracked and a new round of tears rolled down her cheeks.

Scorpius didn't know what to think. Was her state of distress really about her being a mum? It just didn't make sense to him. He always knew that they would have kids, they'd talked about it for years, and the thought of Rose being anything less than a perfect mother had never once crossed his mind.

"Rose," he said seriously, causing her to look up at him. "I don't doubt for one second that you are going to be a fantastic mum. You're extraordinary at every single thing you do, so why would this be any different?" he asked looking at her with an intensity that caused her to once again collapse against him in a fit of sobs. He sighed and resisted the urge to run a frustrated hand through his hair.

"You're going to be magnificent!" he said while rubbing circles across her back. This seemed to cause some her to settle down to some extent, so he took the opportunity to bring her face up to his.

"I'm sorry that I wasn't here," he said looking into her large, watery blue eyes.

"No, you were doing your job. I was being selfish," she said abruptly moving closer to him and bringing a hand up to run her thumb along his jaw.

"Rose, you had every right to want me to be here. How long have you known?" He asked pulling her closer to him.

"I found out the day you left," she said biting her lip.

His eyes widened. "You've known for almost a week?"

She nodded and he let out an angry sigh. "Merlin Rose, I should've been here. Who else knows?"

"No one," she said quietly.

"You've known for almost a week and you haven't said a word to anyone?" He asked trying to hide his shock.

"I wanted you to be the first to know," she said smiling slightly.

He let the words sink in and suddenly pulled her against him. Their lips met for the first time in almost a week and it was long and heated and _happy_ and everything else that kissing the one you love is supposed to be like. He could taste her tears mingling with his and he didn't even care because they were going to be _parents_ , dammit. They were going to have a baby that was going to be the perfect blend of all the best parts of both of them and it would be perfect. His little family would be _perfect_.

At some point or another they broke apart and he rested his forehead against hers. She was beautiful, with her wild red hair and blazing blue eyes and flushed cheeks and full lips and _so many damn freckles_ , and as usual he couldn't quite understand how he'd gotten so lucky. "Scorpius," she said bringing him out of his thoughts. "I don't know how to do this," she said, her bottom lip shaking.

"Neither do I, but we're sure as hell gonna figure it out," he said squeezing her hand.

"Yeah?" she asked uncertainty.

"Yeah," he said leaning down to brush his lips across hers once more.

She smiled against him. "We're having a baby," she said, her voice lingering on the last words. Her words caused tears to burn his eyes and something unknown bloomed in his chest. He didn't know it was possible to love something so much that wasn't even in the world yet. But he did, because he and Rose had made it happen together.

Scorpius thought of these things as they lay in bed that night after having recreated the exact acts that got Rose pregnant in the first place. As he traced lazy circles on her pale, freckled shoulder he thought of how much their lives were about to change. He was shocked to find that he wasn't scared, at least not yet. Because he would be figuring things out with Rose, his very best friend. And as long as they had eachother, he knew that things would work out just fine.

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AN/ Hi! I really hope that you enjoyed and if you did, review, follow and fav! I've been loving all of the recent feedback and it's really pushed me to write more. I love all of you! XOXO


	19. Mantra

AN/ so, this chapter is for sure on the longer side. But, I really enjoyed writing it because I feel like it covers a lot of things I've wanted to address about both Rose and Scorpius's characters for a while. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy!

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As Scorpius Malfoy sat in office of Hogwarts's headmistress , he couldn't stop the ball of anger that continued to grow in his chest. He knew that he'd really messed up but he couldn't seem to care. Glancing down at his bloody knuckles he realized that he was shaking. Merlin, he was an idiot.

Him and his girlfriend, Rose Weasley, were only weeks away from their final days at Hogwarts. And then, freedom. But before that could happen they had to take their N.E.W.T.s and that was causing both of them more stress than they'd ever experienced. And to top it off, the pair had taken to bickering as much as they had in second year, which was _a lot._ The reality of all that was coming their way was scarier than either of them cared to admit and the lack of sleep due to stress only made both of them more irritable than ever.

They'd just gotten into it worse than usual. Scorpius has taken the liberty of writing both of their timetables for studying and _apparently_ that had been the wrong thing to do. He just didn't know why.

"I don't need you to do things for me!" Rose huffed at Scorpius angrily while ripping the sheets of parchment from his hands.

"So you're saying I'm not aloud to help you?" He asked incredulously. He looked around the empty corridor quickly to make sure that nobody was listening in on them. It was bad enough that they were having _another_ row. The last thing he needed was for everyone to know about it.

"No, I'm telling you that I'm more than capable of writing my own timetables," she said realizing how loud and unreasonable she was being. But she was already this far in the argument so there was no turning back now.

"Just like I'm more than capable of writing my own potions essay but that didn't stop you did it?" He asked gesturing wildly.

"I only wrote it because you were tired and you needed sleep!" She said crossing her arms.

"And I only wrote your timetable because you were running late to breakfast and you already had two more to write," he said referring to their other friends, Albus Potter and Alice Longbottom.

At his words Rose's face immediately crumpled and to his horror, tears began to pour down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry, Scorpius," she said hurdling herself into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck. He reciprocated and wrapped his arms around her back squeezing tightly as her tiny form shook with sobs. Merlin, girls were confusing.

"Hey," He said quietly. "It's okay," he said softly, rubbing circles on her back.

She leaned back slightly to look up at him through watery eyes. "No, it's not. I was being horrible to you. Thank you for making my timetables. I really do appreciate it," she said reaching up to stroke run her fingers on the underside of his jaw.

He closed his eyes and shook his head smiling slightly. Even after having been with Rose for a year and a half, she still baffled him daily. "It's okay, love. You're clearly exhausted. Maybe you should go back to the tower to sleep," he suggested lightly.

"But I'm supposed to meet with Professor McGonagall to go over detention slips," she said quickly.

"Rose, I'm Head Boy. I wrote the slips right along with you and I can guarantee that I'll be able to talk to McGonagall about them just the same as you. Now come on, I'll walk you back to the common room," he said placing a hand on her lower back to guide her. She obliged and leaned her head against his chest thinking about how nice it felt to be taken care of.

And that's when it happened. Just thinking about all of it, the hitting and the screaming and the wands being drawn so quickly made Scorpius's blood boil. He didn't even want to think about what McGonagall would say to him when she finally arrived. Waiting in her office, the muscle in his jaw jumping irritably, he thought of Rose and how she'd looked as if she'd been slapped across the face. She was probably furious with him.

They had just walked around the corner of the corridor. Scorpius's arm was still wrapped around Rose's waist and they were talking quietly until Scorpius quite literally ran into the chest of none other than Thaddeus Nott.

"Oh, sorry mate," Scorpius said flustered, clapping Thad on the back. It was no secret that Scorpius and Thad were most certainly _not_ mates. They'd never gotten along and in the early years of their Hogwarts' careers were notorious for attempting to duel one another.

Both of their fathers had been involved with Voldemort and in Thad's book, that meant that he and Scorpius were supposed to be in some sort of _club_. Thad never saw anything wrong with his either of their father's actions and that irked Scorpius beyond belief. Over the years their anger towards one another had leveled out and they generally steered clear of each other. In fact, the last time Scorpius could remember seeing Thad was weeks ago while when doing round with Rose, they caught him trying to break into the Potions classroom. They had brought him to McGonagall and Scorpius hadn't thought much about it since. It was obvious though that Thad had.

"Malfoy, nice to see you again," said Thad. His voice was eerily calm and Scorpius reflexively tightened his grasp on Rose.

"You too, Thad. Now if your excuse us, Rose and I were actually on our way back to the common rooms," Scorpius said sensing that something bad was about to happen. He discreetly angled himself in front of Rose and tried to step around Thad.

"Well I guess I'll see you two later. But Malfoy, I have a question," he said moving even closer to where the two were standing.

"Ask away, Thad," said Scorpius feeling extremely uneasy.

"How does it feel to be screwing someone related to a mudblood?" He asked with a smile. Scorpius felt his blood run cold and he felt Rose tense up next to him.

"What did you just say to me," Scorpius asked slowly pushing Rose behind him and taking a step towards Thad. He felt Rose attempt to grab his hand but he shook her off.

"You know exactly what I said, Malfoy," Thad said also taking a step forward. Scorpius thought he heard Rose tell him to walk away but the blood rushing in his ears was just too loud.

He hears his knuckles crack against Thad's nose before even he realized what he'd done. As if I'm slow motion, Thad stood back up, wiped the blood from his nose and hit Scorpius square in the jaw. He stumbled slightly and this time there was no denying Rose pulling him backwards, yelling at him to stop. But he couldn't. Not when Thad was grinning that menacing smirk at him. He ripped himself out of Rose's grasp and before he knew it he had Thad pushed against the wall gasping for air.

"Have anything else you want to say to me Thaddeus?" Scorpius asked between gritted teeth, tasting the blood oozing from his lip.

"Yes," Thad gasped. "I just don't know how you can touch something like that. Something so _disgusting_ " he said moving his head in the direction of where Rose was standing horrified. Once again something in his chest burst and without even trying he'd begun pummeling his fist into Thad's face. He wouldn't of been able to say exactly when he lost his grip but eventually Thad wiggled free of his grasp and flipped Scorpius against the wall and began to beat into him like his life depended on it.

Scorpius could hear Rose's screams and after taking more than a dozen punches to the face he found the strength to push Thad off of him. Stumbling more than he cared to admit Scorpius ripped his wand from him pocket and aimed it shakily at Thad's chest. He could hardly see, everything was truly very blurry, but he wasn't going to stop.

"Tell me Malfoy," Thad choked out. "How does it feel to be with someone who ruined our families? To touch someone whose parents destroyed everything? Someone so utterly vulgar, disgusting, worthless," He said slowly. Every word was like a knife into Scorpius's side and the word " _stupefy"_ was out of his mouth faster than he cared to admit. A jet of red light sent Thad flying into the wall and he slumped to the ground wordlessly.

Suddenly everything became clear again. He looked to where Thad lay and to his horror noticed all of the blood running down his face and onto his shirt. He figured that he looked similar. He wiped his face lightly and winced when he saw his own sticky, hot blood covering his fingers. Scorpius could head Rose crying in earnest and looked over to see her huddled in the corner, her knees to her chest.

Before he could move to Rose he heard footsteps and looked up to see all four head of houses accompanied by Professor McGonagall hurrying down the hallway. That was when he knew he had messed up.

He was told to go straight to the headmistress's office, so there he sat. He hadn't even gotten to go to the Hospital Wing, or more importantly, check in with Rose. He leaned his head in his hands but winced as his beaten face touched down. He heard the door open behind him and jerked around to see Professor McGonagall enter looking as what Scorpius could only describe as tired.

"Is Rose alright?" He asked immediately.

"Yes, Miss Weasley is fine," the headmistress said rigidly.

"Professor, you have to understand what happened," said Scorpius quickly jumping to his feet as McGonagall sat down behind her large desk.

"I've already heard everything I need to know," she said looking at him rather sternly.

"But, Professor," He said only to be cut off by the raising of her hand.

"I understand that you were the first to make physical contact with Mr. Nott." She said not asking, but telling.

"Yes. But," he said once again not getting to finish.

"I also understand that you were the only one to have drawn and used his wand." She said, once again stating, not asking. He could do nothing but nod.

"Mr. Malfoy, you are Head Boy and you will be leaving my castle to go off into the real world in a matter of weeks. This is not the kind of behavior I neither expect nor condone. There will most certainly be consequences for your actions. You will be in detention every night for the rest of your Hogwarts career. Am I understood?" She asked sternly.

"Yes ma'am," he said dejectedly. He was about to get up to leave when the Headmistress's voice stopped him.

"All of that aside, Mr. Malfoy," she said. "I would be lying if I said that I wasn't proud of the way you defended Miss Weasley today. She was very adamant in letting me know why exactly you decided to attack Mr. Nott and it was, I dare say, very noble," she said, and if he wasn't mistaken, he thought he saw the hint of a smile ghosting her face.

"Oh," he said surprised. "Thank you, professor. Might I ask where I can find Rose?"

"If I'm speaking correctly, she is waiting for you to be cleaned up in the Hospital Wing. Tomorrow night you are to report to Hagrid, as you will for the rest of the year. Good night, Mr. Malfoy," she said.

He told her goodnight and sighed in relief. Detention with Hagrid wasn't going to be terrible at all. If that's all the punishment he was going to get then he knew that McGonagall wasn't too upset with him. As he made his way to the Hospital Wing he thought of what he was going to say to Rose. Was he to apologize? He wasn't sorry for defending her, only for her having to see him do it. Would she be angry with him? Did he really hurt Nott that badly? His endless thoughts carried him all the way to his destination.

When he pushed open the large doors to the Hospital Winh he was immediately tackled by a mess of wild red curls. He winced as he was pushed against the wall roughly but Rose didn't seem to care. She took taking his face in her hands looking at it closely. Her eyes were wide and swimming with tears as she inspected every inch of his face. After assessing his injuries for a few more moments she took him by surprise by pushing him square in the chest.

"You are such a stupid prat," she sat punctuating every words with another blow to his chest. Once she'd decided that she'd done him enough damage she surprised him again by wrapping her arms around his middle. He felt her tears begin to soak his shirt and he lead her over to a chair against the wall.

"I was so scared. He kept hitting you and you just took it. I didn't know what to do!" she said hiccuping tracing a particularly nasty bruise forming on his left cheekbone.

"I'm sorry that you had to see that," he said finally speaking.

"You shouldn't of attacked him. You should have walked away," she said continuing to trace her finger over his face, now smattered with varying degrees of cuts and bruises.

"The things he was saying about you," he trailed off once her finger touched a particularly tender spot on the bridge of his nose.

"Are all things I've heard before," she finished for him.

"But that's the thing!" he exclaimed. "You shouldn't have to!"

"Just like you shouldn't have to hear things about your father," she said taking his hand in hers and leading him into one of the curtained off cots in the farthest left corner.

"There's a difference, Rose. My father did terrible things. It makes sense for me to hear about them. But what your parents did saved us all," he said wincing as she began muttering healing charms for several gashes on his cheek and what he knew to be a cracked nose.

"We're different people from our parents. You of all people ought to know that. I love you, Scorpius. I appreciate you defending me more than you know, and I really don't mind it. But another man can't end up in the infirmary because of it," she said seriously.

"I understand that, but I'm not going to apologize for what I did. The things he said were vulgar and I hope that you don't believe them for a second. Rose, you are worth _everything_ to me and to so many othersand you can't let someone as stupid as Thaddeus Nott make you believe otherwise," he said taking her hand in his.

She smiled a smile that would could have sent him flying. "Scorpius, my parents have done a lot of good for the Wizarding World. And they may have lessened it, but they sure as hell didn't end blood prejudice. There are always going to be people who say terrible things. And yes, it doesn't feel great, but who I am isn't going to change because of some stupid guy who thinks I should be defined by my blood status."

In that moment, Scorpius was hit with the magnitude of his love for this girl. This girl who didn't let what others thought of her tear her down, who didn't hate him even after he most definitely deserved it, who knew exactly what to say and how to say it. He loved her so damned much it was almost too much to clearly comprehend. So after Madame Pomfrey had been by to heal his nose and cheekbone, and after he'd convinced Rose to sleep on the couch in the Gryffindor common room with him _just so he could be close to her_ , and after they were far past the point of drowsiness, he told her how _wonderfu_ l she was. He said it again and again, a mantra, until they had both fallen asleep.

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AN/ Hello! I hope that you enjoyed the read, and if you did, PLEASE review, follow and/or fav! XOXO


	20. Inclination

AN/ Hello all! I apologize for taking such a long break, life just kind of caught up with me. I'm not sure how this chapter happened. I just missed writing and it kind of just happened but I'm positive that it's one of my favorite things I've ever written and I hope you enjoy!

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Loving Scorpius had always been easy for Rose. It was something that was so totally familiar to her and experiencing something different towards him had never really been an option. In some form or another, she had begun loving him the day they met. He was an outcast, a scared 11 year old boy who just needed a friend. She loved that she could be what he needed, even if she didn't quite understand that at the time. She got to be the person he walked to classes with throughout their first year. She got to be the one to break the news to her father that he was her best friend and that she had finally broken the rules. She got to see him try to fight back tears after yet another terrible letter from his grandfather listing all that was(n't) wrong with him.

In second and third year they argued constantly. It was over anything and everything and it drove Albus absolutely up the wall. They were never really mad at each other. Their fights were ways to blow off steam from their personal lives. Scorpius with his family drama and the fear that he would always be nothing more than the evil Draco Malfoy's son, and Rose's trepidation that she would never be as good as her mum and dad because they'd saved the bloody world and she just watched an unhealthy amount of quidditch. But he always told her that she was like the sister he'd never had and she loved that. She loved the validation that even through their bickering, he still needed her. Because as much as she hated to admit it, she needed him more than anything.

Fourth year came and she sensed a change. Scorpius suddenly seemed a little bit older. He seemed to be more careful around her but she couldn't for the life of her figure out why. She tried to carry on as normal. She did her best to rile him up just to catch a glimpse of how they used to of acted around each other and though they still argued, it was nothing compared to how they use to. She felt crazy admitting that she actually missed fighting with him. But the year passed and it wasn't until a truly bad argument with his dad, something that rarely happened, that Rose recognized how much they still needed each other. They stayed awake all night sitting on the couches in the Gryffindor common room talking about everything, Rose doing her best to keep his mind off of his family, and she was hit by how much she loved him. She loved how she could say anything to him, how she was never A Weasley around him, he liked her regardless of her last name, that he promised her that no matter what, they would always stay friends. That night they fell asleep by the barley blazing fire and when Rose woke up to find his head resting on her shoulder, she felt something bloom in her chest that felt a lot different than friendship.

Fifth year was confusing. Rose begun to see Scorpius in a whole new light. He suddenly wasn't her blonde, lanky, and irritating best friend anymore. He was tall and slightly broody and all sharp corners and jagged edges. But he was also warm and kind and the most important person in her life. She noticed little things now that she'd never seen before. He fidgeted when he was in History of Magic and she suspected it was to keep awake, he doodled pictures of plants in Potions that were actually _good_ , he slept in Astronomy but talked his way out of trouble every time. She also caught him staring at her more often than not. They never talked about it, but she knew that they had changed. She felt a strange charge every time he slung his arm around her shoulders like he always had. It was maddening, these new feelings, but she loved him for it. It was truly terrifying to admit to herself that maybe all of her love didn't stem from friendship, she'd be kidding herself if she said she didn't know otherwise, but she loved him regardless.

It wasn't until the summer before sixth year that something truly shifted. They held hands, they fell asleep in the middle the middle her mum's cheesy muggle movies, his arm wrapped lightly around her waist, they spent less time with Albus and more time alone together, and she cried into her pillow for a week when instead of kissing her, he'd pulled away nervously and acted like it had never happened.

But sixth year came and of course they'd _finally_ gotten together in the middle of an argument. Anything else wouldn't have made any sense. They were in their element, tempers flaring and harmful words being thrown left and right when Scorpius finally snapped and kissed her. It was everything that she would have hoped for and more. At the time, she wasn't sure what was supposed to happen next. She loved him, but she couldn't tell him that quite yet. And as if out of nowhere, she realized that they would still be best friends. They just liked each other more than normal friends did. So the year carried on as all the others had. They studied, fought, studied some more and things were _normal_. Except that he held her hand between classes and insisted on trying to help carry her books. There was snogging, _lots and lots of snogging,_ and pulling roughly at shirts and tugging lightly at hair and scratching softly along backs and they explored each other in ways that were equal parts beautiful and scary. They fell asleep together in the common room at night, a mess of lanky limbs and frizzy red hair. And finally when she couldn't hold it in for a moment longer, she said it. She told him that she loved him and he said it back and it was perfect.

Seventh year was more or less the same. But stress levels were high so they argued more which meant they found themselves in empty classrooms and empty dorms and empty closets participating in lots of things that could get them in lots of trouble which really fuelled Rose to start more fights because if there was one thing she liked, it was snogging Scorpius Malfoy. It was scaring having to figure out their lives, but they did it together. And they made plans! They looked at flats over Christmas break but realized that purchasing meant actually having money so they figured they'd hold off on that one. But they planned and planned and planned some more and they dreamed so big that Rose felt like she was touching the sky. Their last days at Hogwarts snuck up on them quicker than expected and a devastating reality settled over the pair.

The castle was where they learned to be the best versions of themselves, where they became friends, where they had fallen in love. It was their home. And now they were expected to just up and leave it to face the real world. It was hard on both of them. But they had each other, as they had for almost half of their lives now. So, they said their goodbyes to their teachers and friends and of course the castle too. But they didn't say goodbye to each other because they knew that wherever it was that they ended up going, they'd be together. Just like they always had been.

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AN/ Thanks for reading! If you liked it, please please please follow, fav and review! XOXO


	21. Ocean Eyes

AN/ What? Me actually updating? Whack! Okay so actually, school started back about a month and a half ago and I have never felt so stressed out in my life. In all honesty, writing has been the last thing on my mind so I put things on hold for a bit. Things aren't slowing down anytime soon so I can't promise regular updates or anything but I truly hope you enjoy what I was able to scrape together. I've actually had this sitting half finished in my drafts since July so here we are. I have so many WIPs and once I can edit them all they'll be here for you! Anyways, thanks for sticking around and I hope you enjoy!

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The Malfoys were not a family that went to the beach. They were indoor people, as Scorpius's father so often reminded him. Why go to the beach, a nightmare of an attraction filled with ample opportunities of injury, when there was a perfectly good house filled with perfectly good forms of entertainment that didn't risk getting covered in sand? So, when Scorpius finally admitted to his girlfriend, at the ripe old age of 22, that he had never actually been to the beach, she nearly spit out her pumpkin juice.

"You're not actually serious, are you?" she asked eyeing him over her breakfast.

"Of course I'm serious. And I don't see what the big deal is either. It's just water and sand, which may I remind you, we have both of right behind the Burrow," he said avoiding Rose's shocked stare.

"A beach is most certainly different than a pond, Scorpius. You know that," she said grabbing the unfinished piece of toast off of his breakfast plate and popping it into her mouth. Scorpius did nothing but roll his eyes and pull his near empty plate closer to his chest.

"I don't see any other solution," Rose said after having sat in thought for several minutes.

"Solution to what?" Scorpius asked while getting up to clear off both of their plates.

"Your problem. We have to go to the beach today," Rose said gathering their mugs and dumping them into the sink alongside her very much deprived boyfriend.

"First of all, I do not have a problem. Secondly, we can't go to the beach on a Tuesday morning, Rose. We both have work to do," he said doing his best do bite back a smile as her large blue eyes widened and she frowned.

"We have vacation days saved up. Come on Scorp, let's play hooky," she said wrapping her arms around his middle. Looking down at her, hair a fiery halo surrounding her pretty face, her blue eyes blazing with excitement, the hundreds of freckles that peppered her face, he knew that he couldn't say no. She was irresistible.

"Okay," he said with a smile. "Let's go to the beach."

He hardly registered her what he'd agreed to before she'd launched herself into his arms and squealed gleefully. "This is going to be so much fun! I'll owl the Prophet and Mungo's and tell them that we both need a personal day. Oh! We should pop over to the Burrow and see if Grandma Molly could prepare us lunch. I'm sure she'd be happy to," she prattled on.

Scorpius could do nothing but laugh at his over adrenalized girlfriend and nod his head as she rambled. She had untangled herself from him and began jotting down a list of things that they would need pack on the back page of this week's edition of Witch Weekly.

"I think that we have sunblock, don't you? If not we could always ask my mum, she's bound to have some. Oh, and we're going to need swimsuits. You still have yours, yes?" she asked hardly even looking over at him. For the next hour he bustled around their small flat doing as he was told, preparing everything for their beach day. He wasn't even sure where they were going. Sure, they were in London and they were close to a multitude of beaches, but he didn't have any idea what the day would entail.

It was half past 10 when they finally had everything together. He looked at his girlfriend, fiery hair pulled out of her face and clad in short trousers and a flimsy tank top over her swimsuit top that made Scorpius's mind go a little fuzzy. With their things packed in a small beaded bag (given to Rose on her seventeenth birthday by her mum), they grasped hands and Rose apparated them to Camber Sands. A beach, as Rose informed him, just four miles of Rye in East Sussex.

As they landed in seclusion from nearby muggles Scorpius could immediately hear the roar of the ocean waves lapping onto the sand and the smell of salt surrounded him. He didn't even have to see the waves to regret having waited so long to come to them. Hands still grasped together firmly, Rose drug him to the place where the pavement faded into the sand.

"Take off your shoes," Rose commanded reaching down to follow her own orders.

"What?" he asked confused.

"Just trust me," she said looking at him with a meaningful glance.

And he did trust her, more than anyone else. So he reached down, removed his sneakers and his eyes widened as his feet hit the sand. It was unlike anything he'd ever felt and he felt silly for being so in awe. He looked over to Rose and his stupid grin matched hers. She grabbed his hand once again and they found a spot that was fairly secluded from the rest of the beach, which seeing as it was a Tuesday morning, wasn't very crowded in it of its own.

As soon as he saw the water he in took a gulp of air so big, he choked. He couldn't believe that he was a 22 year old man who had never seen the ocean. He'd never thought it a big deal, but seeing the water in front of him, so vast and blue and overwhelming, Rose's insistence to get him here suddenly made all the sense. He longed to jump in but then he looked over to see Rose pulling off her top to reveal a red and white polka dotted swimsuit top and he almost fainted.

"Care to rub me down?" she asked smirking.

"W-what?" He sputtered.

"With sunblock you prat," she said with a roll of her eyes. She handed him the tube and he continued to stare at her in awe. She was just so damn beautiful.

"I'll burn if you don't put it on soon. Stop staring at my chest and get to rubbing," she said laughing a little bit to hard as he gulped and nodded quickly

He spread the lotion over her freckled shoulders and back and bit his tongue hard enough to draw blood when she insisted on doing him too. The feeling of her hands running up and down his back was almost too much. But alas, he prevailed and let out a deep breath when she stopped, popped on her favorite pair of sunglasses and started towards the water without looking back at him.

He ran to catch up with her and didn't have a chance to look down before the tide rushed up around his ankles. He yelped when the cold hit him and he could hear Rose laughing in the distance, the water already up to her knees.

"Scared, Malfoy?" she called.

He shook his head grinning and trudged over to her letting the water slowly make its way up his body. The cold hit him like a slap in the face but he continued to wade farther towards Rose until he was only a few feet away from her. He felt the sand between his toes and jumped when a plain looking fish brushed past his ankles.

"You aren't worried about sharks?" he asked trying to ignore his anxieties by doing his best to focus on how free she looked in the water.

"Here I was thinking you were going to say something romantic," she said trudging through the sand leaving them toe to toe. Suddenly he forgot about fish and water and sand. All he saw was her.

"You look beautiful," he said with a grin.

And she did. The sun bounced off of her fiery curls creating almost a kaleidoscope of colors. Her eyes matched the water perfectly, ocean eyes he could call her. Staring down at her he felt like he was drowning and it had nothing to do with the sea surrounding them. She looked angelic. And without any rhyme or reason, he pulled her against him and kissed her like his life depended on it. And in a way, it did. He was sure that he would float away into the vast nothingness if it wasn't for her body pressed against his. They were practically skin to skin sans the scrapy bathing suit covering her top. She threaded her wet fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck and she tasted salty from the water but also sweet like she always did. He wanted nothing more to apparate them home and carry on down the path that he knew things were heading towards. But, using every bit of willpower that he possessed, he pulled away and rested his forehead against hers.

"You're fantastic, did you know that?" he asked a bit breathlessly. She shrugged grinning but he knew all too well that the tips of her ears were scorching.

"So I take it you like the beach then," she said running her hands down his back, her nails scratching him ever so lightly.

He shivered and closed his eyes enjoying the heat of the sun, the cold of the water and the glorious sensations his witch of a girlfriend was inflicting upon him.

"I think that I love it," he said leaning into kiss her again but stopping when he noticed she had pulled away.

"Oh no, we are _not_ spending a beautifully sunny day snogging when we could be doing this."

Before he could comprehend what was happening she'd bent down, scooped up a handful of sand and plopped it straight down upon his head. She laughed at his shocked expression and simply dove into the water kicking farther and farther away from him. He came to his senses and dove in after here doing his best to shake the sand from his hair. They went on like that for a long time, swimming in circles, throwing sand and laughing until their stomachs hurt. They finally stopped to catch their breaths when Scorpius noticed that Rose's pale shoulders were starting to redden and he suggested that they make their way back to the shore.

They realized that it was well past dinnertime and decided to walk into town in search of something to eat. As they strolled down a quiet street hand in hand, not a word having been said between them, Scorpius felt so incredibly lucky and he was positive that it had to do with the witch walking along next to him. Once they'd tracked down a little shack that sold fish and chips just the way they liked them, cheap and greasy, they made their way back down to the beach and settled down on a blanket in the sand.

"Thank you," Scorpius said suddenly. Rose looked up, mouth full, and quirked an eyebrow. "Thank you for giving me the best day I've had in a long time." he said staring at her intently. He didn't have to say anything else, she knew everything else he wanted to say but couldn't because for some damn reason he found his sodden self choked up. She moved over to rest her head on his shoulder but not before pressing a searing kiss against his lips. He smiled wondering how the hell he had gotten so lucky. And as the sun began its descent, sinking below the bunches of clouds that had slowly made their way across the horizon, he couldn't think of a place that he'd rather be.

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AN/ Wish I could say that I'm sorry for yet another cheesy ending but it's the only way I know how to do things ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ anyways I hope that you enjoyed and please review, follow/fav! I love you all! XOXO


	22. Long Days and Endless Nights

A/N: Hello! This is the longest I've gone without updating (4 months, i'm so sorry) but I've really gotten the chance to recharge, adjust to the pressures of the school year and really find joy in writing again. I have several WIPs sitting in my drafts and i'm hoping to steadily finish/upload them over the next little bit. Anyways, I hope that you enjoy and thanks for your patience:)

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It wasn't often that Rose was the one pulling long nights at the office. But, she'd recently been promoted to an editor position at the Prophet and though she could do most of her work from home, some things needed to be done in person. So, on a rainy Tuesday night in the middle of October, Rose apparated to her front door feeling utterly exhausted. There'd been an issue in the latest print, an issue that should have been dealt with long before it even reached her ears, but some people were just incompetent and now she'd spent her day off cleaning up other people's messes.

The rain fell around Rose in sheets and she became more and more drenched by the second. She exasperatedly yanked at the hair plastered to her face from the rain and pulled out her wand muttering the incantation that would let her into the house. Shaking from the cold, she hurried through the door and was immediately hit by a wall of heat. She smiled knowing that Scorpius had most likely charmed the entry hall with a warming charm and she suddenly longed to see him. She pulled off her coat and took off her shoes sighing in relief. Her day had been an absolute nightmare and she could practically feel the stress radiating off of her. She wanted nothing more than to see her husband, take a hot shower and go right to sleep. And she thought that that was exactly what she would do, that is until she walked into her living room.

Sleeping on the couch were her two favorite people in the entire world. Scorpius and their daughter, Ara. Their beautiful, beautiful baby girl. Both were asleep with Ara, who was just about to be seven months old, sleeping on Scorpius's chest and Scorpius stretched out taking up the length of the couch.

After such a long and dreadful day, the sight made tears burn Rose's eyes. Her and Scorpius's lives had flipped upside down completely after the birth of their daughter. She was perfect, the perfect blend of all of the best parts of both of them. Her hair, which she'd been born with a lot of, was blonde like her father's but whenever they took her outside and the sun bounced off of her tiny curls it began to look just a tad bit red. Her eyes were blue, just like Rose's and her hair was beginning to curl at the ends, just as her mother's had

They had fought endlessly on what to name her. It wasn't _really_ fighting per say, they just had very different opinions. Scorpius wanted to end the Malfoy tradition of naming children after constellations. He hated what his family name stood for and when he married Rose he had actually wanted to take her name. She wouldn't hear of it. She believed that it was up to them to rewrite the world's opinion on the Malfoy name. And just as she had won the argument then, she won again in her fight to continue his family's tradition. As much as she hated his family line, his parents excluded, she thought the concept beautiful. And after pouring over books with every constellation ever discovered for hours upon hours, she found it. Ara. Incidentally it's placement right next to the Scorpius, something Rose hadn't learned until after the baby had been born. Rose mentioned the name to Scorpius, and looking at his wife, just as beautiful as ever in her eight month of pregnancy, he couldn't say no. She was irresistible.

Looking at Scorpius holding Ara to his chest, Rose thought about how Scorpius was such a wonderful father. It was almost as if his entire life had been leading up to these last few months. The first time Ara had gotten sick Scorpius took the whole week off from work just to be there. He hardly slept because he was so worried that something terrible would happen. He needed to be ten times the father his grandfather had been, and as much as he loved his dad, he wanted to be better than him as well. He swore to himself that he'd never let a day go by without reminding his daughter of the incredible things that she would do. He would let her know about his family's past from a young age, something he wished his father would have done, and he wouldn't let a second go by without her knowing that she would be so much more than any of his relatives had ever been. He would not let his family ruin Ara's outlook on herself and her future.

He'd been thinking these things as he'd rocked her to sleep on the couch. She had been crying for Rose all night and he'd finally gotten her to settle down after reading her Babbity Rabbity for the seventh time, a trick he'd picked up from his father-in-law. And he hadn't meant to fall asleep, but he knew Rose would be home soon enough and before he knew it he was out cold.

As Rose stared at them, the two most important people in her life, she couldn't understand how she'd gotten so lucky. She looked at the lives of people like her parents and how hard things had been for them. They had fought for the world she now lived in. She'd never had to deal with anything close to what they'd been through. Sure, she dealt with pain and loss and she definitely had had her fair share of terrible days, but she didn't have to fight a war to earn her freedom. It had been handed to her.

She walked over to her husband bending down to lightly kiss his cheek. It was nothing like the times she'd woken up her mum or dad. Ever since she could remember they would jump up quickly, frantically searching for their wands, an old habit that would never fade away. But not Scorpius. His eyes opened slowly and a smile spread over his face as he realized who it was. Wordlessly he leaned up planting a chaste kiss on her lips and handed her their sleeping daughter.

Rose smiled holding her daughter to her chest and every bit of stress she had felt that day evaporated. She stood like that, completely still with her eyes shut in the center of the room, for a long time. It amazed her how simply holding Ara could fix even the worst of days. It wasn't until she heard Scorpius bustling around in the kitchen, probably fixing her dinner, that she snapped out of the trance she'd been in. She quietly carried Ara to her room and placed her in her crib. She closed the doors behind her quietly and made her way back to the kitchen where Scorpius was standing over the stove cooking something that smelt incredible.

She knew that she'd rant about her terrible day, and Scorpius would sit there and listen. He'd listen and, squeeze her hand and tell her how wonderful she was and how wonderful their daughter was and how bloody wonderful their lives were. He'd clean up her plate and she'd shower, rinsing off the weight of her day. He'd be waiting in their bed for her and she'd get as close to him as humanly possible. Skin to skin. And she would let him know how much she loved him until they were both much to bleary eyed to stay awake any longer. And they'd fall asleep wrapped up in each other and all the wonderful things that lay ahead of them.

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A/N: thank you so much for reading! I'd love to hear your thoughts and any particular things you'd like for me to write! XOXO


	23. Delicate

AN/ Hello! As promised, here's another update. This is the sequel to chapter 6, Exasperation, where Scorpius and Rose finally admit their feelings for one another. I think that this is one of my favorite things I have ever written. I've been working on it for a while so I really hope you enjoy:)

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Rose woke up utterly confused. She felt herself pressed up against someone. And that scared her until she looked at the closely at the arm draped around her middle and noticed the three freckles in the shape of a triangle right on the elbow. It was just Scorpius. She breathed a sigh of relief and relished in how wonderful it felt to be held. To be held by Scorpius, nonetheless.

 _Scorpius._

That's when it all came back. Their argument, the apologies, him pushing her against the wall and kissing her senseless. He'd kissed her and she'd kissed him back and they'd continued on that way for hours. It had been blissful. She remembered the way his lips felt against hers, how they felt on her neck, how his hands felt in her hair. She remembered dragging him towards the couch at some point. They'd kissed and touched and felt until they both eventually fell asleep, a mess of lanky limbs and fiery red curls, wrapped up in each other and all of the possibilities of t _hem_.

But now she was awake and she felt terribly strange. She'd snogged Scorpius. Her best friend in the entire world. And she knew that she shouldn't feel as different as she did. Her and Scorpius had been dancing around the elephant in the room since the end of last year. They liked each other more than friends did. And she had grown comfortable with the fact. But it was still strange to know that it was all out in the open. She truly did feel as if her heart was on her sleeve.

She saw through the window that it was still dark outside which she was eternally grateful for. The last thing that she needed was someone finding her wrapped around her _best friend_ like a vine. Suddenly, Scorpius's breathing picked up a bit and he shot upright, practically pushing her off of the narrow couch. His eyes widened and he seemingly, just as she had, remembered what had happened merely hours ago. They stared at each other both turning as red as Rose's hair.

"So," he said breaking the uncomfortable silence. She became aware of his arm still wrapped around her and he flushed even brighter, but his armed stayed in place.

"So," she said quietly, eyes suddenly falling to his lips. She wanted to skip the awkwardness and go right back to snogging him, but there were things that needed to be said.

"I think I've made it quite obvious that I fancy you," he said looking at her through eyes that she could drown in. Beautiful, endless pools of grey.

"Yeah, I'd say we were both pretty obvious," she said feeling the tips of her ears burn, acutely aware of the fact that she was still practically on top of him. She wanted to believe that it was because there was no room on the narrow couch, but she knew otherwise.

"Yes, I guess we were," he said finally smiling. And suddenly she was laughing. She was laughing and so was he. She pressed her face into his shoulder, his arms bringing her somehow closer to him. They were just such idiots. Bumbling, bloody awkward idiots. It was Scorpius for Merlin's sake! She didn't know why things had be so difficult. Once their laughter had subsided, they sobered and Scorpius slowly brought his hand up to her face, using his thumb to wipe a tear from her cheek.

"Where do we go from here?" He asked her. They were so close that she could see the light freckles spattered across his nose. They were barely there, she'd only noticed them recently, but she wanted desperately to stop and count them.

"I suppose we just act the same. Nothing's really changed, right?" She asked. A look of terror crossed his face and his entire body tensed.

"I thought we just established that we have feelings for each other," He said, a furrow forming between his brows looking so embarrassed that her heart could have broken.

"Scorpius," she said while proceeding to do something completely involuntary. She brought her hand to his cheek. And she knew that it was the right move because his eyes closed briefly at her touch.

"I only meant that _we_ don't have to change. Just because we fancy each other doesn't mean that there has to be this massive difference. You're still my best friend. I just have the benefit of snogging you when I'd like to." she said squeezing his hand causing him to visibly relax. "And I wouldn't say no to you carrying my books," she said smiling.

"If I did that, I'd be carrying around the whole library, love."

He'd said that ending bit so casually. She didn't even think that he'd noticed. But she certainly had. And she liked it. She liked knowing that there was more to them now.

"So let me get this straight," he said looking at her intently. "I get to tell you how much I fancy you without worrying that you won't feel the same?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I guess. I don't know, I've never been in a relationship before," she said cheeks flushing.

"So this is a relationship?" he asked with a grin that made the butterflies in her stomach do summersaults.

"Of course it is you tosser. Now can we stop talking about the logistics and get back to snogging?" she asked sounding much braver than she felt.

Slowly, almost painfully, he leaned in and pressed his lips against hers; a feeling she'd have to get used to. It was the sun slowly slipping behind the burrow, the sky a smorgasbord of pinks and blues. It was fireworks, beautiful and big and bright but also scarier than she cared to admit. It was better than Firewhiskey, blazing and burning but in all the right ways. It was the the thing she'd never known that she needed. But now that she had, it she couldn't imagine letting it go.

As for Scorpius, he felt like he was flying. Rose was _everything_. He'd needed her for so long and now he had her. Or more appropriately, she had him. In comparison to the darkness that was his family, she was a breath of fresh air that he hadn't realized he'd been gasping for.

And as they sat together on the maroon couch that was much too small for the both of them, they watched the sun rise over the Great Lake both feeling more at peace than they had in months. He knew that things were going to be different now, even if Rose wouldn't properly admit it. But change was a good thing, he thought. He knew that he was young and that he didn't even fully understand yet what the world had to offer, but he knew that he couldn't stand the idea of figuring it out without Rose by his side.

Chaos would surely ensue when their families found out. Sooner or later a Weasley would stumble upon them wrapped around one another. There would be shock and laughter and probably anger from someone, but they didn't have to deal with that then. It was just Rose, Scorpius, and all of the possibilities of what they could be. And when the time did come for the world to know about their relationship, Scorpius would proudly tell everyone, whether they asked or not that he, Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, was dating Rose Weasley. And he continued to be proud of her and of being with her for the rest of his life. How could he not be? What they had wouldn't be perfect, they argued too much for that to even be a possibility. But they were together. Finally, they were together. And he never intended on letting that change.


	24. You Are In Love

A/N Hi again! I apologize for going so long without an update. I have a couple of WIPs that I'm taking my time on getting right. I spent a long time with this one as well and I truly hope that you enjoy!

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From the moment that they had finally gotten together, Scorpius had sensed a certain finality between them. Somewhere in him, he knew that there wouldn't be anyone else, that he was meant to spend the rest of his life loving Rose Weasley. But at the time he was only 17 and he was young, so he mostly disregarded that feeling. Truthfully, the reason he ignored it was because it scared him. Having been stuck safely behind Hogwarts' walls for so many years made his future seem very far away. And the fact that his life had hardly even began terrified him to no end. He didn't know who exactly he was or what the future might hold, but as his adult life drew nearer, it became astonishingly clear to him that living his life without Rose beside him seemed utterly pointless.

It didn't take too long for him to officially come to terms with this, only about a year into their relationship. Their seventh year had just begun and as expected, Rose was already going a bit crazy in preparing for her NEWTs. Scorpius did his best to alleviate some of her stress, but over the years he'd found it best to leave her to her vices when it came to studying. He could bring her tea and rub her shoulders and remind her to give herself breaks, but Rose wasn't a person that appreciated coddling. And with that in mind, he found himself most useful sitting next to her and attempting to get some studying done himself.

He wouldn't be able to say what day, in particular, it hit him, but he remembered clearly how he felt and how beautiful she looked when he realized that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. It was a terrifying feeling with him being so young and all, and he couldn't bring himself to say it out loud. But he was done ignoring the feeling in his gut that told him that he and Rose were meant to be together.

He finally told her the night that they graduated from Hogwarts. The Burrow was buzzing with life; all members of the Weasley clan fluttering about, bouncing between eating, talking, laughing, and of course, drinking. Scorpius had been joining in on their family gatherings since he, Albus, and Rose met in their first year. Being the son of Draco Malfoy made things awkward in the beginning, but both Al and Rose did a fairly good job of ignoring the opinions of others. So, before much could be said, Scorpius was a regular at Weasley events. He originally hated attending solely because he knew what everyone thought of him. His father had done filthy and despicable things to undeserving people, and as much as Scorpius wanted to separate himself from that, he knew that he never truly would. But as Rose so often reminded him, it was incredibly difficult to not be smitten with him on the spot. His intelligence went beyond all measures making him a fan favorite with her mum and Uncle Percy. And though he didn't enjoy actually playing quidditch, he, like Rose, was a fanatic of all things having to do with the game helping him to fit in with the rest of the family.

All of his insecurities aside, he'd long ago been welcomed into Roses' crazy family. And being an honorary Weasley meant many things, specifically an insane amount of family gatherings. Between the dozens of birthdays, anniversaries, and celebrations, there was never a shortage of parties to be thrown. But graduation parties, in particular, were not taken lightly amongst the Weasleys, and Scorpius had been anticipating attending Rose and Albus' for years. But what he hadn't been expecting was to show up and see a banner with not only their names on it but his too. His parents were even there, something that had to have been awkward for all parties involved. He couldn't ignore the stinging in his eyes as he looked around at his family: the Weasleys, Potters, Lupins, and of course his mum and dad too. He looked down at Rose to see her giving him a smile that made fireworks burst in his chest and he knew that she must have helped plan this. Before he could get too sidetracked by staring at who was most definitely the love of his life, his mum had swept him into an uncharacteristically long hug. She pressed a kiss to his temple and whispered that she and his father were proud of him. His father squeezed his shoulder and explained that they'd only be able to stay for a bit, making an excuse about having to leave for work. He knew that his dad was only leaving to spare further awkwardness with Rose's family, and as much as that pained Scorpius, he was glad that his dad had at least made an effort to come and support him.

He lost sight of Rose as he was tossed between her family members who all wanted to know things about the internship he would soon be starting at St. Mungos and where he and Rose would be living. Rose's mum hugged him tightly and dove into a conversation about the books she'd been reading about the wizarding medical field. Rose's father clapped him on the back and they easily began talking about the Cannon's recent win, the first one in nearly a decade. It touched him that Rose's family cared so deeply for him. It had been a bit overwhelming at first, but he'd learned to lean into it. And he was incredibly relieved that their treatment of him had never reflected his family's' past.

Now he sat at the edge of the small pond behind the misshapen house with one arm loosely around Rose's waist and the other gripping what had to be his fourth or fifth glass of firewhisky. James had created quite a large bonfire where all of the cousins, most more inebriated than their parents would care for, sat around drinking and recounting stories from years past at Hogwarts. It had become a tradition of sorts and it was something that Scorpius looked forward to every year. Rose was leaning against him as they watched Lily and Hugo give a lively performance of what Professor Flitwick might look like if he fell off of the large stack of books he so often stood on.

Everyone was too busy laughing to notice Scorpius and Rose slip away and leave the circle to make their way to the water's edge. No one but Rose knew how much he loved the pond behind the Burrow. The murky water seemed to hold some of his favorite memories: the summer before his second year when Scorpius, for the first time in his life, had a best friend, the moment that he realized that he properly fancied Rose, the feeling of her tackling him into the water from behind and capturing his lips in a searing kiss. The Burrow, the pond especially, gave him back pieces of a childhood that he had never properly received and so he gladly visited every chance he got.

Both leaning on each other for support, they collapsed on the dewy grass in a fit of giggles. Lying on their backs, they stared at the stars and Rose, having had several more drinks that Scorpius, continued to drunkenly laugh while making up names for different clusters of stars, claiming that she was going to create new constellations.

"And that one there is called Celestina Warbeck's left arse cheek," she said sending herself into hysterical peals of laughter.

"Oh is it now?" he said with a snigger. She nodded and clumsily rolled on top of him, a task that made the pair laugh even harder. Her shock of red hair fell around them and served as a curtain, masking them from the outside world. She leaned in to kiss him but missed, getting a face full of wet grass instead causing her to shriek with laughter. She collapsed against him and pressed a kiss to his neck instead causing shivers to run down his spine and his mind to cloud over. It wasn't until she'd finished undoing the buttons on his shirt only to begin reaching for his belt and his hand was halfway up her skirt that he sobered up enough to realize that her family was sitting only a few meters away from them. And as drunk as the lot of them might have been, he wasn't going to risk all of Rose's cousins seeing the parts of themselves that they saved explicitly for each other.

Breathing heavily, Rose flopped down next to him on her side and gave him a smile that seemed to light up his world. Her skirt was still hiked up giving him a clear view of her creamy, freckled skin, leaving him to hazily remanence on how soft she was.

"What are you thinking about," she said, blue eyes still cloudy and dark from what had almost happened between them moments ago.

"I don't ever want us to break up," he blurted out before he could stop himself. She opened her mouth and then slowly closed it, giving him a strange look. When she didn't speak he felt more frightened than he ever had. He hadn't meant to say it, it had just slipped out. And now she was staring up at him with a pensive look and he wanted to disappear because of course, he had screwed things up. They'd been having a lovely night and as always, his great big mouth had ruined it. But now that he'd started, he couldn't stop.

"Well I would surely hope not," she said, causing his heart to stop.

"I mean it, Rose," he said, head spinning from sitting up too quickly. He grabbed her hand and she sat up too. "I love you and I don't ever want to love anyone else."

"I'm happy we're on the same page then," she said with a laugh

"I don't think you understand what I'm saying," he said, eyes wide. "I want to be with you forever. And I know that it sounds crazy because we're both so young, but I've been feeling this way for months and I've wanted to tell you but I never knew how to say it. You're _it_ for me, Rose. You're absolutely incredible and for some reason, you love me back and I can't picture my life without you. And I know that I don't technically have a job yet, but I'll figure things out and I'll support us," he said, stopping as a violent pink spread across his cheeks. "I don't mean to imply that you can't support yourself," he said quickly, the sound of his heartbeat echoing in his ears. "I just mean that I love you so much and that I want to do it all with you, Rose. Every last bit of what this life has to offer. And I know that I can be a lot to deal with and that sometimes I let my anger turn into impulsivity, but I want to show you that I can be every bit of the man that you deserve," he said breathlessly; trying to ignore the large haze the firewhisky had covered his mind with.

"Scorpius, love, slow down," she said, unable to suppress the grin from spreading across her face. "I want that too."

He stared at her dumbly. "Did you hear what I said?"

She laughed and brought a hand to cup his cheek. "Of course I heard you, silly. I'm pretty sure the entire world did too. You're very loud," she said.

"So you want to be with me too? Forever?" he asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

She nodded slowly. "I do. And I thought I'd made that clear, with all of the shagging and drunken confessions of love, but I'm sorry my message didn't convey clearly enough."

He didn't understand how she was using such big words because his mind was definitely not working that fast. But she mentioned shagging and he felt a heat pulse through him and without a second thought, he roughly pulled her face to his. And they stayed like that, lying near the pond's edge, legs intertwined and lips locked until something crashed into the water in front of them. They hadn't even noticed James and Fred sprinting past them, hurtling themselves to the water which looked as black as the night sky. Still not thinking clearly, Scorpius pulled Rose to her feet and pushed her in only for her to drag him along with her. Soon the pond was overtaken by the (mostly) redheaded group of teenagers who were, quite frankly, drunk off of their arses. It wasn't until later on that their parents trickled outside to find them laying over one another on the grass, all sleeping soundly. No one batted an eye and Rose curled up next to Scorpius.

And when Scorpius and Rose woke up the next morning to the sun rising and being much too bright for their liking, their heads were pounding and Rose had to refrain from throwing up all over her who was now confirmed as the love of her life. It was hot, they were tired and felt like they'd been hit by the Hogwarts Express. But they were together. They loved each other and it was going to stay that way forever. And at that moment, Scorpius wouldn't have changed a thing.

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A/N Thanks so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed! Feedback is always appreciated:)


	25. Safe and Sound

A/N Hello! I don't think I've ever uploaded anything back to back, but this was another WIP that I wanted to finish up before I leave to spend two weeks in London. I hope you enjoy this bit of angst:)

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Sometimes, Rose got nightmares. It wasn't often that they occurred, but when they did they were enough to knock her off her feet and leave her feeling unstable for days. Most of the time they were about Scorpius or Ara. Terrible things would happen to them and she'd wake up crying and shaking hard enough to wake up her husband as well. And as horrifying as those dreams were, they were nothing compared to the others.

Rose couldn't remember a time in which she didn't know about the war. Some called it The Great War, some called it the wizarding world's Civil War, but her family simply referred to it as the war. Because for them it wasn't something to read about in a textbook. It was their lives, their childhoods. Her parents had instilled into her the importance of the truth; something they had never shied away from telling her. Of course, they spared her the gory details until she was older. And she knew without a doubt that there would always be some things that they would never tell her. But she had grown up knowing of Voldemort, knowing that fear of a name would only increase fear of a thing itself. She knew of her family's involvement. She knew about blood prejudice and Horcruxes and the list of the dead that seemed to go on forever.

Her parents wanted her to be informed. They never wanted her to feel in the dark and had raised her by telling her stories of their pasts, of their society's past, with the hopes that because she understood it so well, she would never fear it. And so she didn't. She grew up with extensive knowledge of the war and could recount certain events as if she were there. And because of that, the past didn't scare her like it did everyone else.

For a while, years really, she thought that this was a bad thing. She'd never had the chance to see her family's history through unfiltered lenses. She knew only what they'd told her. And no amount of reading and searching could change that. And even though she didn't fear what had happened, it hurt her inexplicably to learn of what her family had been through for the witches and wizards of the future. For her.

But then she had her daughter. Her beautiful baby that she would give her life for without a second's hesitation. And then she understood. She recognized why her parents wanted her to know the whole and unadulterated truth; even the most heartbreaking parts. Because just like her mum had wanted, Rose wanted her daughter to grow up trusting that things were better. She would never try and convince Ara that the threat of dark magic didn't exist because it did. But her uncle and her cousins and so many others spent every day making sure that that threat was as far away from them as possible. Rose understood her parents because she too wanted her child to know the truth of her family's' fight.

So, when Rose got nightmares about the war, the war that she hadn't even lived through but knew almost every single detail of, she became unhinged. Because it was much scarier, at least to her, to let her imagination fill in the gaps of the few things she didn't know to be true.

She was having one of the worst dreams she'd had in months, maybe even years; a mix of everything that terrified her. Jets of red light grazed her body as they whizzed past her, she could hear screaming and gut-wrenching sobs that rattled her insides, the smell of smoke and singed flesh enveloped her and she could hardly see through the thick stream of tears pouring down her cheeks. Everything was happening too quickly and she couldn't pause to breathe. She looked to her right and there was her mum, dead, then to her left where her father lay on his side, the ghost of his last laugh still etched upon his face. And then she heard it. The one voice she had never expected to hear there.

In her agony, she looked up, roughly wiping at her tear-stained face to see him. Scorpius. He was looking at her desperately, his beautiful face frozen in fear. A slim white hand wrapped firmly around his neck as he kicked and struggled beneath it. He never looked away from her, his arresting grey eyes boring into hers, the last time she'd ever look into them.

And then the world turned green.

She'd heard the killing curse described, but she never thought it would look so real, as if the light was another person in the room that she could reach out and touch. She was distracted from her thoughts by Scorpius because suddenly, he was falling. Scorpius fell and fell and fell, his lifeless form seemingly crumbling under the weight of her screams. And then she was shaking. Her whole body was being jostled back and forth and with a gasp of air she hadn't known that she'd needed, she opened her eyes to see those same ones of grey staring back at her with such intensity that it made her eyes water.

"Scorpius," she breathed before throwing her arms around his neck. He cradled her to his chest as she cried, the image of his body being struck by the darkest curse imaginable replaying in her mind. Once her breathing slowed down he gently placed a hand on either side of her face and wiped her remaining tears away.

"Everything is okay. It was all just a dream," he said stroking her cheek with his thumb.

"I just want them to stop," she said quietly.

He frowned. "If I could make that happen, you know that I would. But because I can't, I promise to be by your side through every single one of them."

The sincerity in which he spoke with made her eyes water because even in the dead of night, he was vowing to protect her. They didn't get too much sleep anymore because of the baby, but his exhaustion hadn't changed how hard he loved her. She wordlessly pulled his face towards hers and kissed him sleepily. He smiled against her and lowered them back down. Within minutes they were asleep again, but little did they know that the Ara would be waking them up soon. And when she did, Rose wouldn't mind. Because her daughter alone proved that their world was safer and that even if something as terrible as Voldemort's reign repeated itself, Rose would have something worth fighting for.

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A/N I hope you enjoyed! Follow/Fav and leave a comment! XOXO


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